The Right Place at the Right Time
by myfriendsarevictorious
Summary: Two people in the wrong place at the wrong time. When something happens to an 18 year old Ally and Austin at a party after the just met, and they both believe they will never meet again. What happens years later when they run into each other and realize, perhaps, they were in the right place at the right time. AU
1. Prologue

**So this is my first real fan fiction, and it's AU Auslly. I got the inspiration from the Lady Antebellum song "We Owned the Night". I was going to make it into a story all it's own, but I decided to make it into an Auslly fanfic and see what people thought about it. Maybe i'll still make it into an actual story one day. Anyway, thank you in advance for reading and reviewing ;). **

"Trish, no! I don't want to go to this party!" Ally complained. It was a few weeks after her 18th birthday and almost the end of the school year. Trish was trying to convince her to go to some party she had found out about from someone at school.

"Come on, Ally, it'll be fun! It's a _beach house _for crying out loud! Just come for a while! Please!" begged Trish, clasping her hands together in a slightly melodramatic way to match her tone.

"Okay, okay. I'll go. But only for an hour or so. Alright?"

"Great!" Trish exclaimed, "We're gonna have so much fun!"

"Come on, Austin. Are you ready yet?" Dez called from Austin's living room.

"Yes, Dez. Just getting my shoe on!" Austin yelled back.

"So what, let's go! Just go without shoes, like me!"

"You're so weird!" Austin responded hopping off the last step pulling his shoe on. "Okay, let's go."

The music was very loud in the house, it was one of Austin's friend's cousin's or someone's house. There were red solo cups all over the place, however, for a big party the house wasn't trashed quite yet, albeit the party wasn't in full swing yet. When Austin and Dez walked in about six girls ran directly to Austin, seeing as he was the new Internet sensation. Dez looked at him and winked, then walked over to the bar, grabbed a cup, and filled it with some water. Dez wasn't a drinker and that was his way of having something to drink at a party, especially since the last few months since Austin had become famous over the Internet, and they had been invited to almost every party. Every girl was also incredibly interested in Austin now, even more so than before, which was pretty hard to believe with him being nice and hot and a singer. Of course, most girls just cared about the latter reasons.

Ally, on the other hand, was shy and reserved. She had her best friend, Trish, who was crazy and adventurous for the both of them. Ally had only had one boyfriend in her whole life, a boy named Elliot that she had what she liked to consider a "summer romance" with, however she knew she only called it that to feel like she was in some kind of Nicholas Sparks book. That's another thing about Ally, she was a hopeless romantic. She had an entire shelf full of Nicholas Sparks and even Shakespeare, along with classics like Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre. She was a hopeful songwriter, however it seemed that it would never be a reality for her considering that even performing in front of her family or her best friend or even her stuffed animals gave her incredible anxiety. But she sang everyday in the practice room of her fathers music store.

When Ally and Trish walked into the party, no one turned their heads or moved to make a path, and that was the way that Ally liked it. She liked being a nobody, because, in it's own right, it was peaceful and private. She wished she could perform and be famous, but her desire to keep her life like this (along with her stage fright) was the real reason she never tried to make any kind of career with music. "Come on, Ally!" said Trish pulling her through the crowd and out onto the back porch where everyone was dancing. Somehow along the way Trish had acquired a beer, she looked into it curiously then took a sip. "Huh, not bad." Trish said matter-of-factly while looking around.

"Wow, look at the moon over the water." Ally sad in awe.

"Ally, you're such a romantic it's ridiculous sometimes." Trish retorted.

"Whatever, hey, who's that?" Ally asked Trish, grabbing her arm and pointing her toward a crowd of people around a boy with what Ally could only described as golden hair and the perfect look. He was singing a song that she'd never heard before and she decided to go listen. Trish followed, curious of what her shy, little best friend could have found interesting at a party like this.

"_I can get your heart beat beatin' like that, yeah I can get your heart beat beatin' like that!"_

Ally swayed along with everyone else dancing to his singing, it was actually quite good and she couldn't help wondering what their voices would sound like together.

"_Would you, would you want it if I stood up above a crowd. Got up on a chair and if I shouted your name aloud_." Austin continued singing. Ally was watching him move and complimenting his dancing in her mind. Suddenly their eyes met. Austin walked towards Ally and took her hand, pulling her into the small circle the kids around them had made, "_Could you, could you take me, call me baby without a doubt. I'm shouting your name right now, shouting your name right now_." Ally ducked her head and covered her eyes, hoping that would somehow make the crowd stop looking. Eventually, she looked up at the boy singing to her and met his gaze. He continued to sing, looking her straight in the eyes, and she wouldn't dare look away.

"_Don't you get it, get it, I'm nothin' like them other ones_

_Raise upon the notion, I ain't hosting no reruns_

_I said it, said it, said it, wouldn't let it be all or none_

_'Cause I ain't no rerun, I ain't no rerun._"

They were in their own world, at least in Ally's mind. She had never in her life been in front of people without some kind of extreme anxiety, but in this moment, looking into the eyes of this boy, she felt like there was no one else in the entire world. She couldn't help but think that this must have been what all the girls in her romance books had felt like, like there was no one else in the entire world, or even universe, but them.

"_Hey-ay_

_Let me hear you like_

_Hey-ay-ay ay-ay_

_Can you do it like_

_Hey-ay ay-ay."_

Austin finished singing and Ally hadn't realized it, but he was still holding her hand.

"Hi." said Austin.

"Hi." Ally replied, sheepishly.

"Come on, let's go somewhere a little more private." Austin said, taking her by the hand he was holding and leading her away from the crowd. Trish and Dez stood side by side watching their friends walk away.

Austin and Ally walked down the boardwalk towards the beach, still holding hands subconsciously. "Hey," Ally said, "can you stop holding my hand now?"

"Oh, sorry." replied Austin, "Anyway, my name's Austin. What about you?"

"Ally."

"Well, Ally, it's lovely to meet you." Austin said, cockily.

"Why, thank you." She said, attempting to mimic his tone. Austin smiled and so did Ally.

"Wanna go for a walk?" Austin asked, Ally nodded and they started walking down the beach. "So, how old are you, Ally?"

"Eighteen, what about you?"

"Same, I guess you're also graduating next month?"

"Yeah, I guess you are too?"

"Yep. So, what college are you going to?"

"I got into Juilliard, but I'm not sure if I could leave Miami."

"Are you kidding? It's Juilliard! You _have_ to go! It's one of the best music schools in the country, in the world!"

"I know, I know." Ally replied, "But you don't know me. I'm great on paper, but in real life I'm... I'm nothing."

"Well, maybe I just met you, but I think you're something."

"Thanks, Austin." Ally smiled at him.

"Come on!" Austin yelled, "Let's jump in the water."

"Hey, Ally. Come on, take off you shoes and come in!" Austin yelled, standing in the water with the waves washing over his feet. Ally was about 15 feet away smiling and laughing at him and his attempt to get her to come in the water.

"No way." Ally replied.

"Come on, Ally." Austin almost whined.

"Fine, I'll take off my shoes but I'm not running into the water. My dress will get all wet!"

"Ok, ok. Come on though!" Austin said walking towards her slowly. Ally peeled her shoes off and put them in the sand next to Austin's flip-flops. Austin ran up behind her and picked her up.

"AUSTIN! PUT ME DOWN! I DON'T EVEN KNOW YOU!" Ally screamed. Austin walked into the water and put her down in the waves.

"Alright, alright. I put you down." He stated as if it was exactly what she had meant. Ally smiled and cocked her head, obviously not amused.

"Yeah, yeah. Thanks." Ally said, shyly smiling.

"Oh yeah?" Austin said laughing. He picked her up and spun her around. Water was flying everywhere around them and splashing in their faces. Looking into each other's eyes, Austin gently put her down, waves still crashing around their knees. And almost as if a wave had washed over his head and pushed it forward, his lips were on hers. She almost backed away, she almost stopped it, but she couldn't. She could only deepen it. Austin wrapped his arms around her again and lifted her up the rest of their height differences until her legs bent and were completely out of the water. Ally wrapped her legs around his waist and he carried her out of the water and onto the beach. He set her down on a blanket that someone must have left out from earlier that day.

"Austin, we can't do this." Ally was breathing heavily, they'd been kissing heavily for a couple of minutes and somehow along the way he ended up without a shirt on.

"I know, you're right, Ally. I'm so sorry." Austin said sitting up and putting his face into his hands.

"Hey, I mean. Maybe a little longer. No harm in that. Just, clothes have got to stay on, ok?" Ally said, cheeks burning red.

"Absolutely." Austin agreed and they resumed their activities.

_The Next Morning (Approx. 5:30am)_

_When I see your face. There's not a thing that I would change, because you're amazing just the way you are!_

Ally dug around her for her phone. When she realized that she wasn't in her bedroom, she looked next to her and saw none other than the boy from last night, Austin, oh my god, she didn't even know his last name! All she knows is that as of last night she lost something. Something that she would never be able to get back, and it was to a boy that she had just met that night. That she didn't even know the last name of. After a few rings Ally picked up her phone and saw that it was Trish, "Hey, Trish."

"Ally! Where are you! I left the party around 11 when I couldn't find you anywhere, I figured you had gone home but I called your dad and he said you weren't there, he thought you were with me. Don't worry, I covered for you but seriously, where the hell are you?"

"Um, I'd prefer not to answer that question right now, but, um, I'll meet you at the mall in 30, ok?"

"Um, okay, Ally. Bye."

"Austin!" Ally said and she shook him awake.

"Uh.. huh.. uh," Austin groaned as he woke up. He looked around and Ally could see the realization in his eyes as he realized what had happened last night. "I- I'm-"

"I gotta go." Ally said quickly. She stood up and gathered her things and dressed the rest of the way as fast as she could. Just before she left, as she was walking away, she turned around and their eyes met. In that moment, she knew they'd never speak again.

Or so she thought.


	2. Chapter I

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed! It means a lot! Anyway, I forgot to mention in the last chapter that I (obviously) _do not own Austin and Ally_ or the songs Heartbeat or Just the Way You Are. Keep reviewing, I love the input, especially on my first story!**

_**5 years later:**_

"One hotdog, please." Austin asked the vender.

"Here you go. " he replied, handing Austin the hot dog.

"Thanks!" Austin handed him the money and turned around quickly, he had just come from a writing session and as he was walking down the street he came up with a really great melody for the chorus that he didn't want to forget and wasn't paying much attention.

"Hey! Watch where you're going!" someone said angrily, Austin was wiping mustard off of his shirt and looked up to respond just as nastily when he saw a girl, no older than 23 or so, staring back at him with an angry gaze that looked like a New Yorker, but also not.

"I- I'm sorry. I didn't mean to run into you, I just wasn't pay-" Austin tried to console her.

"It's fine." the girl smiled at him, she had big brown eyes, ombre hair tied back in a pony tail, and the nicest smile he thought he'd ever seen, or had he seen it before? "So, what's the rush?" she asked.

"Oh, uh, I just had a- you know what, you probably wouldn't understand." Austin said trying to escape the awkward situation settling around the two of them. It felt like everyone was watching them, even though he knew no one in New York cared what you did or what you looked like, it seemed to him they acted as if they'd seen everything. Given he had only been here in New York for 3 weeks since his record company, Starr Records, had sent him out to record his first album.

"Try me." she challenged, looking him in the eye.

"Ok," he countered, "I had a song in my head, I, um, I was just thinking of it and I wanted to get home so that I could record it so I don't forget."

"Really? That's what you thought I couldn't get?" the girl chuckled, Austin couldn't help but smile at the girl's laugh. He was almost sure that he had heard it before. Everything about her seemed eerily familiar, but he just couldn't place her. "Well, I'll have you know that I graduated Juilliard last May. So, trust me, I get it."

"Really?" Austin became intrigued, less at the fact that she had attended such a prestigious music school, but the mentioning of it. It was kind of a deja vu moment for him and it was bothering him intensely, why couldn't he place this girl. "Hey, do you want to get some coffee?" he asked.

"Sure, but don't you have a melody to go record?" the girl questioned.

"Oh, yeah, uh." Austin stammered.

"Here," the girl said, taking the palm of Austin's left hand and a pen from her bag, "is my number, why don't we get lunch sometime? Ok? Great!" And with that she smiled at him one last time and was off in the other direction. Austin looked at his hand and read the name she had written, "Ally".

"Hey, dude! Pick up your hotdog! That's disgusting, don't just drop it on the sidewalk, throw it away if you're done with it!" Some guy yelled from behind him, but Austin couldn't hear, he couldn't focus on anything, just the name on his hand which stirred a certain memory from years ago.

"Hey, Ally!" called her friend, Trish, from inside their apartment as she put her bags down. "Dallas called again. That boy is persistent to win you back!"

"Yeah, yeah," Ally replied putting her bag down, "so hows the new job going?"

"Well, I think, I mean I've been their for 2 whole weeks and I think I'm getting the hang of it." said Trish excitedly. Trish had recently gotten a job as a receptionist at Starr Records, a big shot recording company with branches all over the country and world. So far, her plan was to work her way up to becoming a music manager, which Ally thought ridiculous seeing how little she knew about the music industry, but possible because of how well she argued and got her way.

"So, what do you want for dinner?" Ally asked.

"How about Chinese food?" Trish called as Ally walked into the kitchen.

"Sounds good, I'll order in, what do you want?"

"The usual."

"Okay." with that Ally picked up the phone and dialed.

"Ally, you're being really quiet." Trish noticed while eating a piece of broccoli.

"I know, I'm sorry." Ally replied, twirling her noodles.

"Are you ok? Is it Dallas?"

"A little, I don't know."

"What do you mean, is there someone else? Ally, what are you turning into? You've only had two boyfriends in your whole life!" Trish said dramatically, clasping her hands together and swaying around. "My little Ally, growing up and finding love!".

"Shut up, Trish!" Ally said, flinging a forkful of noodles at her face, but missing and hitting her lap.

"No way you're gonna get away with that!" and Trish picked up a forkful of rice and was about to fling it at her when the phone rang.

"I'll get it." Trish said, standing up. It had kind of been her thing to answer the phone since she and Dallas broke up, because they both knew that if Ally talked to him she couldn't help but fall back in love with her college boyfriend, the one that cheated on her with another girl her senior year. "Hello? No, she's not here right now. No, she's not. Goodbye." Trish hung up the phone, looking slightly exasperated. She nodded at Ally's questioning gaze and went back to sit at the table and continued their meal. "So, is there another guy?" asked Trish, again, seeming genuinely interested this time.

"No, not really, I just gave my number to someone. Nothing big." Ally replied, acting as if her noodles were the most interesting thing in the universe right now.

"What? Ally, you haven't given a guy your number since Dallas! It is big. Who was it, what did he look like?"

"Well, I ran into him on the street. He said he was a musician and he seemed nice, easy on the eyes," Ally let a slight wink escape her subconsciously and Trish squealed a little, "and he just seemed like someone I'd like to get to know. He was funny and kinda clumsy, he ran into me and got mustard from a hotdog all over his shirt."

"Oh my god, he seems awesome." Trish said, "You know, for a guy you just met and all."

"Yeah, he seemed kind of familiar, I don't know why. I just knew I wanted to see him again, talk to him again."  
"Aww! This is so cute Ally!" Trish said and Ally blushed.

"Dude, should I call her?" Austin asked his best friend, holding his phone to his ear while pacing around his nice apartment. He lived with another recording artist from Starr Records, Trent, he was a good guy, but he head a girlfriend that he spent most of his time with so Austin got the apartment to himself most days and nights.

"Are you even sure it's her man?" Dez said over the phone.

"I don't know, all I know is that this girl is amazing and when I look at her she just looks so familiar. I know I just want to spend time with her, you know, get to know her."

"Okay, then call her." Dez deadpanned over the phone, as if it was the most obvious answer.

"But is it too soon, she literally gave me her number 2 hours ago!"

"Just call her, ok, buddy?" Dez said, "I gotta go, my mom's calling me."

"Yeah, thanks, Dez." Austin said and he heard the line go dead. He decided to work on the melody that he had had in his head before he called, if he even did.

Two hours later, Austin had finished the whole chorus and was excited to let his writing partner down at Starr Records, Mildred, hear it. He wasn't crazy about her, she was very stuffy and didn't seem like she let loose a lot, but he was told that she was one of the best in the business and he couldn't argue with her 3 page list of hit songs that she had written or co-written. Austin leaned back from his keyboard and stretched his arms behind his head and cracked his back.

"Hey, Austin." he heard his roommate call and the door slam.

"Hey, Trent." Austin replied standing up.

"I'm staying at Britney's tonight, just stopping to get some stuff, see ya later!" and with that the door shut and he was alone in the apartment again, great. Austin knew that he should call her, he wanted to. He just wasn't sure, and what if she wasn't the girl, what if she was just someone that had that kind of familiar face like you see sometimes, he didn't know. But either way, before he had completely thought it through, he had entered the numbers on his left hand into his phone and hit call. "What did I just do!" he thought.

"Hello?" a sweet voice answered, "Who is this?"

"It's Austin, from the street today... hello? Hello?" Austin asked into the phone, getting concerned. But it was no use, the phone was already on the floor and Ally was sitting on the bed, struck down by the name she had heard and a memory it brought to life, a memory that had been long concealed in the darkest corner of her mind.


	3. Chapter II

**Wow! Thank you so much, I love the response that I've been getting on this story! Keep reviewing, I love reading your comments! Thanks again.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Austin & Ally.**

"Hello? HELLO?" Austin yelled into the receiver, did she hang up? No, the line hasn't gone dead, his phone would have beeped. "Ally? Hello?"

"Oh my god." Ally whispered, a tear rolled down her cheek and she looked at the phone and realized she hadn't answered him in at least a minute. She gingerly lifted the phone to her ear again and said, "Sorry, I, uh... So why are you calling?"

"I'm, um, calling about that lunch date." Austin replied, trying to be as cool as possible. If she didn't know who he was, or if he had gotten it all wrong, then he could really screw things up if he didn't play it right.

"Oh, yeah. Um, how about tomorrow? There's this great little café off on 84th street, wanna meet there?"

"Great, how about 12:30, see you tomorrow?"

"Uh, yeah. Bye." Ally said and hit the "End Call" button as quickly as possible. She threw her phone next to her on the bed and flopped back into the pillows. "What the hell did I just get myself into?" she mumbled to herself before falling asleep.

xxx

12:25 on the dot. Austin looked at his watch as he neared the café. He was attempting to prepare himself for this, but what do you say in this situation? Sorry? Nice to see you again? He was so unsure of himself. "Hi, can I have a croissant?" He asked once inside.

"Sure thing, coming right up." He gave her the money and sat down at a small table with two chairs next to the window. He was watching people walk by on the street when she caught his eye, Austin couldn't help but think how beautiful she appeared walking from the opposite direction from which he had come. She was wearing a yellow tank-top and jeans. Her hair fell just the right way around her shoulders, just like it had the first time they met.

"Hi, can I have the usual." Ally said approaching the lady at the counter.

"Sure thing, Ally." the lady replied, smiling. Obviously Ally was a regular here. She looked over and noticed Austin staring at her and smiled. She grabbed the small bag and walked over to the table.

"Hi." she said, sitting down across from him.

"Hey." he replied. "So..."

"So, why don't we start with the basics, what's your last name?"

"Moon. Austin Moon." he replied, relieved that she had been the one to initiate the conversation, "And yours might be?"

"Dawson." she replied, taking a small chunk of muffin between her fingers and putting it in her mouth. "Where are you from?"

"Florida, Miami more specifically." Austin replied, the next thing she said didn't surprise him, but he knew he still looked shocked.

"Me too."

"Wow, that's really cool." Austin said as he bit into the croissant, "and you went to Juilliard. That's pretty impressive."

"Thanks." Ally said pensively, "You know, why don't we go for a walk. It's better than just sitting here, right?"

"Sure." Austin agreed and stood up. He and Ally both threw away their bags and just carried the rest of their pastries with them.

"So, where did you go to college?" Ally asked as they walked down the street.

"Um, I didn't." Austin said, "Well, I mean, I did. I got into Florida Tech but, I don't know, I just didn't want to go to college. I wanted to be a musician."

"So, you can be both. And now you don't have a plan to fall back on!" Ally said, caring a little too much.

"Ha, well, I'm hoping I won't need one. But anyway, back to you, what made you want to go to Juilliard?"

"Well," Ally began, "actually, I used to be really shy. But um, long story short, someone told me that I was worth something and that I should try for my dreams. So I did." Ally looked at Austin, searching for any sign of recognition of what she had referenced.

"That's a nice story." Austin said, hoping that she wouldn't catch how the words stuck in his throat, did she know what she had said? Did she know that it was him? Austin had to know. "Do you want to come back to my apartment?" he asked, rushed.

"Um, sure." Ally replied, hesitantly. "Where is it?"

"Just a couple blocks that way. Starr Records is putting me up there with another artist while I'm recording in New York."

"Must be pretty nice, huh."

"It's cool. Pretty spacious I guess."

xxx

Their walk was quick and as they walked in Austin called out for Trent, but he wasn't there.

"So," Ally said walking around, her hand grazing the table and chairs. "hey, can I try your guitar?" she asked, picking up the acoustic guitar from it's stand and sitting down on a chair in the living room.

"Sure." Austin replied, walking over and sitting down in front of her. "What are you going to play?"

"What do you want to hear?" Ally asked, obviously challenging him to pick something difficult.

"How about..." Austin thought, "something you wrote?" Austin was happy with his response and looked up at her somewhat shocked face.

"How do you know I write my own songs?" Ally asked.

"Well, you went to a prestigious music school and I don't know, I guess you just seem like a songwriter or something like that."

"Fair enough." Ally replied, "This is called "You Don't See Me". I wrote it a _while_ ago so don't judge. It's one of my favorites that I wrote."

"_I'm the sun in your eyes, yet you don't see me._

_I wear no disguise, but you don't see me._

_I'm a total surprise, and you don't see me."_

_I'm so agonized, that you don't see me._

_You don't see me."_

"It's kind of just the chorus, but I like it."

"Are you kidding, Ally, it's amazing!" Austin said. He was being completely honest, it was amazing.

"Thanks." Ally blushed. "Can I use your bathroom?"

"Yeah, it's down the hall, first door on the left."

"Thanks." Ally replied putting the guitar back on the stand and getting up.

Austin had come up with an idea listening to her play. One that would make it absolutely clear if she was the girl that he had met so long ago. He picked up the guitar and put it across his lap and began to play a song that he had written a long long time ago, but hadn't recorded, hadn't played more than a a couple times at gigs.

"_I can get your heart beat beat-beat-beatin' like_

_I can get your heart beat beatin' like that_

_You know you got my heart beat beat-beat-beatin' like_

_Hey-ay ay-ay Hey-ay-ay"_

Ally washed her hands and looked in the mirror.

"It's not him, Ally. Why do you even-"

"_Would you, would you want it if I stood up above this crowd"_

"No way." Ally said to herself as she turned off the tap and dried her hands.

"_Got up on a chair and if I shouted your name aloud"_

Ally opened the door and started walking down the hall.

"_Could you, could you take me, call me baby without a doubt"_

Ally was standing in the opening of the door into the living room. Austin was looking down at the guitar as he sung.

"_I'm shouting you name right now, shouting you name right now."_

Austin looked up and saw Ally, but continued playing. Ally started walking towards him and sat on the couch.

"_Don't you get it, get it, I'm nothin' like them other ones_

_It's placed upon the notion, I ain't hosting no re-runs_

_I said it, said it, said it, wouldn't let it be all or none_

_'Cause I ain't no rerun, I ain't no rerun_

_I'll make you forget (forget)_

_What you came here for (here for)_

_For goodness sake, let's make or break this heart_

_'Cause it needs more"_

She wasn't sure why she felt tears in her eyes. It's not like she had been in love with him or anything all those years ago. They had barely even met. Even though that hadn't stopped what happened. She could never forget that night and the next morning. They were all too painful. She couldn't quite wrap her head around what had happened, and she couldn't even contact him because they hadn't exactly exchanged numbers. After talking to Trish for about 2 hours she had finally decided that it had meant nothing. That all Austin had wanted was what he got, and that's why he had never asked for her number. Never tried to contact her. But she couldn't shake him, she took his words to heart and decided that it was time to stop being shy and to conquer her stage fright, and the place to do that would be New York, at Juilliard. It made it easier when Trish had been accepted to NYU and they ended up going to New York together. What Ally didn't know is that the morning after what she thought had been one of the worst decisions of her life, Austin wasn't fist-bumping his friends about what had happened, or making jokes. He was looking for her.

Austin spent 2 weeks searching for her, he tried to get into school records of all the high schools in Miami but it was no use. No one that had been at the party knew her or even of her. That didn't surprise him since she had told him she was a nobody, but it wasn't very helpful in the situation. Eventually he had given up, Dez had been really great about him trying to find her, but convinced him that it was no use. That she probably wouldn't even be in the state in a few weeks. With that, Austin abandoned his search and continued on with his life, still hoping that she would come back, when the time and the place were right.

"_Hey-ay_

_Let me hear you like_

_Hey-ay-ay hey-ay_

_Can you do it like_

_Hey-ay hey-ay-ay"_

When Austin finished singing he put the guitar back in the stand and looked at Ally. She was just staring at him, looking over every inch of him.

"I should go." she finally said, standing up and heading toward the door. "Thanks for lunch and stuff. Bye."

"Ally, wait!" Austin called from a few paces behind her.

"What?" she swung around to face him, surprised to find him only about 2 feet away from her.

"You forgot something."

"Wha-" and with that his lips collided with hers.


	4. Chapter III

**Sorry for the wait, guys. Anyway, I'm loving all the reviews, thank you so much! :) I love hearing your opinions about it or what you think could make the story even better. Anyway, thank you again and enjoy chapter III.**

"Austin, I have to go." Ally said tearing herself apart from Austin and looking in his eyes.

"Oh, okay." Austin replied and let go of her shoulder, watching her walk out. "What did I do?" Austin said once she had left and he shut the door. "I'm a freaking idiot!" Austin kicked the chair closest to him, walked into his room and slammed the door.

xxx

"Trish, I don't know what happened!" Ally said, sitting on the couch across from her friend.

"Well, you realized who he was and he realized who you were. Then he sang a song-"

"No, it was because of the song."

"Okay, okay, well, then he kissed you. So, what's the problem?"

"Well, I've spent the last five years of my life trying to forget him. Trying to forget that night and everything that happened."

"I know, but you're the one who believes in all that 'fate' and 'destiny' stuff, so why can't you believe that maybe, just maybe, he came back into your life for a reason? I mean, come on, not only does he come back into your life, it happens only a few weeks after you break up with the guy you've been dating for over four years!"

"Trish, stop. I don't want to think about him anymore."

"And didn't you say that after you and Dallas broke up, the first thing you thought about was Austin and that night?"

"Yeah." Ally looked at her hands. Trish was absolutely right. The night that Dallas had broken her heart she had come home from the restaurant, took out a pint of ice cream from the fridge and sat on the couch and cried. But she wasn't thinking about Dallas, or the four years that they had spent together, no, she was thinking about one specific night that had broken her heart even more. And the worst part was, she didn't know why. She had loved Dallas, or thought she did. there was always something missing with him. They had said they loved each other about a year and a half after they started dating, which Ally thought was fine, but Trish kept telling her that that was too slow for something like that. "I need to go to bed Trish." Ally said, standing up and heading towards her room.

"But it's only 7 o'clock!" called Trish, but decided to let it be.

"UH! Why did I let this happen! Why did I let him come back into my life. We never even dated, we were nothing, so why is he so important to me!" Ally screamed in her room. She threw pillow after pillow from her bed onto the floor. "I'm an idiot! Why did I give him my number! Why did I answer the phone again!" She collapsed backwards onto her bed and just laid there. "_What makes him so special. Is it because of what happened, because we slept together?" _she thought, "_And why does he still matter to me. We were together for maybe 6 hours and then didn't see each other for 5 years. Why does he matter at all!"_ Ally's thoughts were racing, she got up and walked around the small room. She picked up one of the books from her shelves. The Notebook. "_I'm Ally, why can't I find my Noah. Okay, Ally, shut up you're being really really sappy right now. There's no explanation! We didn't have some kind of summer romance. We didn't even know each other's last names." _She put the book down and sat on the floor.

"Knock knock" Trish said from outside the door. She had been listening from her room to Ally scream and then thought she had gone to sleep for a while, but when she had heard footsteps she decided to come talk to her.

"Come in." Ally said, standing up and laid the book on top of the shelf, not bothering to put it back in it's correct place.

"I heard you yelling and stuff. Are you sure you don't want to talk."

"I don't know, Trish. I really don't." Ally flopped back on her bed, folded her hands across her stomach and looked up at the ceiling.

"You know this isn't a therapy session." Trish said sarcastically, sitting on the bed next to Ally. Ally just glared at her, then smiled.

"Well," Trish started, looking around the room for some kind of inspiration of what to say, when her eye stumbled upon the book Ally had put down when she had entered the room. One of her favorites, she knew because whenever Ally read it she would hear crying from her room because she always lost it when she finished the book. Trish wasn't much of a sap, but she knew Ally might believe it if it came from someone else, "maybe you loved him." Ally looked at her, then closed her eyes again, as if exasperated by the thought of loving someone after only a few hours, even though Trish knew she believed in love-at-first-sight.

"Can I just be alone now?" Ally asked Trish.

"Sure." Trish got up and left Ally on her bed.

"_Come on, Ally, do you really believe that. Do you really believe that you were- are in love with Austin Moon?"_ She didn't have to answer her thoughts, she knew that she was, she knew that the boy who had stolen her heart that one night at the beach had kept it, and she was never getting it back. Ally stood up and walked over to the book shelf, picking up The Notebook and putting it back in it's rightful place. "_Maybe this time Ally doesn't always end up with Noah, maybe sometimes the right guy is the one everyone reading the book thinks is wrong, oh what am I kidding, it never is. I don't know."_ Ally walked back over and picked up her cell phone. "_I have to call him."_ she thought. It took what felt like an hour to her to finally work up the nerve to do, which in reality was only about a minute. As it rang, she felt a rush of fear and dread run through her, she took the phone away from her ear and was about to hit the "end call" button when she heard the familiar voice.

"Hey, Ally," It was so warm and nice. She felt almost safe hearing it, she didn't know why but the fear was still there though. Finally she got up the courage to speak.

"Hi, Dallas."

**Oooo! Another cliffhanger. Tell me what you think! Anyway, obviously I don't own The Notebook, hopefully you get the references I made, if not it's a really good book and if you don't feel like reading the movie's pretty good too, but that's my opinion. Also I made a little reference to an upcoming A&A song if anybody caught it :). Anyways, thanks for reading _and reviewing ;)_. I know this was a short chapter, but I wanted to get in a little more background and accomplish Ally realizing her true feelings about everything.**


	5. Chapter IV

**Thanks so much for reading and reviewing! So, last chapter focused on Ally's thoughts and kind of realizing where she stands, so this chapter is going to focus more on Austin.**

**P.S. Shout out to R5Forever for one of the sweetest reviews I've ever gotten! Thank you a ton! It made my day :)**

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

_The Next Morning_

**AustinMoon: Dez we have to talk i really need ur advice**

**DEZ48: What man?**

**AustinMoon: I kissed Ally.**

**DEZ48: What?! That's great!**

**AustinMoon: Yea... but after she just kinda pushed me away and ran out the door and she hasn't even called me yet**

**DEZ48: When? Was it during ur date?**

**AustinMoon: Ya. I sang to her, the song from the party, heartbeat, and it was just really great.**

**DEZ48: Magical even?**

**AustinMoon: Yeah and the kiss was amazing i just, i'm really confused**

**DEZ48: Maybe it wasn't mean to be?**

**AustinMoon: No way. I wouldn't have run into her if it wasn't.**

**DEZ84: then make it happen!**

_AustinMoon is now offline_

Austin stood up from his desk and knocked his chair to the floor. He picked it up and quickly tried to put it back under the desk. He grabbed his phone from his pocket and his jacket from the chair and ran out the door.

"Come on! Come on! Pick up!" Austin whispered to himself descending the stairs. "Ally, come on!"

xxx

_Later that morning_

"Who's that?" Dallas asked, holding Ally's hand across the table at the same café table she and Austin had met at less than 24 hours ago.

"No one." Ally said, smiling at him and switching her phone off.

"So, babe. What made you decide to finally call me back?"

"I, I just felt like it was time to see what you had to say." Ally countered timidly.

"Well, as I've been telling Trish for weeks, I'm really really _really_ sorry, Als. You know how much you mean to me, right? It was really stupid what I did, I'm sorry."

"Of course." Ally said, looking into her hot chocolate.

"Come on, Als. You know I'm telling the truth." Dallas said with honest eyes, squeezing her hand.

"Dallas..." Ally started.

"No, Ally. I'm really sorry. More than I've ever been about anything! Don't you believe me?"

"I, yeah." Ally said, giving up. "But, I just don't understand how you could do that if you really loved me?"

"I did! I do! Ally, it was stupid! I was stupid! All she had going for her was her looks, and... I don't know, I was weak?"

"Yeah, sure." Ally said.

"Please, Ally. Look at me." Dallas said and reached under her chin, bringing her head up and meeting their eyes. "I love you. I always have and I always will. You're the only girl for me. Please, Ally, say you'll be my girlfriend again?"

"Uh... of course." Ally said, nodding slowly. "But if you ever do that to me again-"

"Wouldn't dream of it, Ally." Dallas said and put his other hand around the one he was already holding. Ally smiled at him then at their interlocked hands. She put took her other hand from the death grip it had on her hot chocolate and slowly took hold of his hand.

"I know. I love you, too." Ally said, but she knew her voice had faltered.

xxx

_Earlier that morning._

_*knock*knock*_

"Who is it?" Trish yelled, walking out of her room and rubbing her eyes. "It's 11 in the morning, some people are sleeping!" She opened the door and looked the tall blonde guy up and down.

"Are you-?" She began.

"Is Ally Dawson here?" Austin asked, hurriedly while looking over Trish's shoulder and into the apartment.

"Um... no she's not here right now? But can you answer my question, please. Are you Austin?"

"Uh... yeah. Yeah, I'm Austin." He said, still looking around the apartment, "Wait, has she mentioned me?"

"Uh, yeah!" Trish said, as if it was extremely obvious.

"Really?" Austin asked, "Well, where is she, exactly?"

"Uh..." Trish stammered and looked down at her shoes. Looking up she asked, "What is this... uh... in... reference to?"

"Um... Well..." Austin began, "I, I just really need to talk to her. Something happened yesterday and I really need to know how she feels."

"Well. She's at the café-" Trish said, slowly.

"Thanks! Gotta go, bye!" Austin said, running down the hall towards the staircase.

"Austin, wait! I don't know if you're gonna like what you see! Austin!" Trish yelled down the hall, "Oh, Ally. Please don't do something stupid." Trish walked back into the apartment and closed the door, then leaned against it and closed her eyes.

xxx

"Ally? Ally?" Austin called, running into the café and to the counter. "Is, uh, Ally Dawson here?"

"Over there." The lady said, pointing.

"Thanks!" Austin replied and the lady smiled and went back to work.

"Ally!" Austin turned and began to walk towards the table they were sitting at just a day ago.

"Ally..." Austin whispered, grabbing his chest with his hand and leaning into the chair at the nearest table to keep from falling when he saw it. Saw her. Saw him.

"I love you. I always have and I always will. You're the only girl for me!" The guy touched her chin, bringing it up to look into her eyes. Her beautiful, perfect, chocolate eyes, "Please, Ally, say you'll be my girlfriend again?"

In that moment, Austin thought his heart was more broken than it had ever been. Seeing this girl, this girl whom I barely knew, but shared this deep connection with. This girl, that he was pretty sure he was falling in love with. He wanted to leave, to get out of this café and back to his apartment. He just wanted to run, away from this place. Away from this girl. Away from his feelings.

"Uh... of course. But if you ever do that to me again-" Ally began.

"Wouldn't dream of it." Austin watched their hands as they intertwined, as she placed her gentle, graceful hand over his. He could feel something deep inside of him, churning and burning with hate and fury. She had kissed him, well, he had kissed her, less than a day ago. How could she go out and date some guy? Or even worse, her ex. As the thought occurred to him, Austin knew it must be true. This guy, it was obviously her ex. But he had cheated on her, there's no way she would take him back, there's no way she could trust him or say she loved him or anything. She just wouldn't.

Then, the world stood still. As if all time had stopped, because what Ally had just said, it contradicted everything he thought of her. And it broke his heart. Before he knew what he was doing the chair he had been sitting in was on the ground and the door to the café was behind him. He ran down the block towards his apartment but after a few minutes he stopped, sat down on a bench and put his head in his hands. The entire scene rushing back and hitting him full-force. Especially the last thing he had heard her say;

"I know. I love you, too."

**In the words of Spencer Shay (being an avid iCarly fan) OOOO! Drama!**

**Okay, thanks for all the reviews, I'm really psyched about this! **

**P.S. I love constructive criticism and any tips or suggestions you may have to make the story develop better, and if I use your idea I'll definitely give you credit :)**


	6. Chapter V

**I loved hearing everyone's opinions about the last chapter! Thank you all ****_so_**** much! I'm excited for you guys to see what happens :). Read on!**

"What was that?" Ally asked, sitting up in time to catch a glimpse of gold running away from the café.

"Who knows? Come here." Dallas said, leaning over the table toward's Ally. He wrapped his arms around her and she did the same. When they pulled apart, Dallas moved to connect their lips. Ally pulled away.

"I'm sorry. I'm really sorry."

"Why won't you kiss me? I mean, you're my girlfriend again, right?"

"Dallas, I know what I said. I do. But, just you being here, and trying to kiss me, I realize... you can't take back what you did."

"I know, baby. I know, but I'm so sorry! You forgive me don't you?"

"Yes, yes I forgive you. But that doesn't mean I still want to be with you."

"But you _just _said that you wanted to be my girlfriend again! Ally, make up your mind!" he said, a trace of anger rising.

"Maybe, maybe I said it because I want the old 'us' back. But, I'm know now that that can't happen. You ruined that chance when you slept with her." Ally replied, slowly. Looking deep into her hot chocolate, which she had resumed her grip on.

"No." Dallas replied, looking at their hands, "This isn't about me." he took his hands away from hers, "This isn't about what I did." and he looked her straight in the eye, "This is about him."

"What?" Ally asked, shocked.

"Yeah, I don't know who he is. I don't know why you think he's better than me. But you do. I see it. I know you. There is no way that you would have called me if there wasn't someone else."

"What? Why would I even think about calling _you_ if there was someone else?"

"Because, Ally," he said, standing up and beginning to gather his stuff, "you may not be his girlfriend. But you sure as hell want to be and that scares you. I gotta go, bye." he made his way to the door, waving to the lady at the counter and opening the door. Ally listened as the bell chimed, signaling the door closing and closed her eyes.

"Fuhhh..." Ally groaned into her palms. She stood up and gathered her bag and hot chocolate and walked out the door, freshly determined.

xxx

"Hey, Austin? You here?" Trent walked into the apartment and threw his jacket on the couch.

"Uh huh." Austin mumbled from under his jacket.

"Oh, man, I'm sorry!" Trent said, quickly picking his jacket up and throwing it onto a kitchen chair, "Hey, what's up?"

"Just... nothing." Austin said, sitting up.

"Okay, I'm assuming girl-problems so, do you want to talk?"

"Uh, I don't know, Trent. What help could you be to me? I mean, you're all happy with your girlfriend and stuff."

"Yeah, I know." Trent laughed and sat down in the chair across from Austin, "But, you know, I've had my fair share of heartbreaks. And, to be honest, I didn't even know you were dating anyone. Let alone that you were so serious."

"That's the problem! I'm not even dating this girl and I'm already completely involved. I mean, it's like freaking Titanic."

"What?"

"You know, the whole 'you jump, I jump' thing? No, okay, never mind." Austin said, flopping back and pulling a couch pillow under his head.

"Anyway... what happened with this girl, then? If you're not even involved with her-"

"That's the problem!" Austin yelled, standing up suddenly, "I'm pretty freaking certain that I'm in love with her and now she's back to dating this scum of a guy who broke her heart."

"Hey, man. I'm sorry." Trent said, standing to meet his gaze, "maybe you just need to move on?"

"Yeah... thanks." Austin grabbed the blanket he had been under and made his way to his bedroom.

"Or you could be her Romeo." Trent called. Austin paused briefly, before continuing into his room and shutting the door and collapsing onto his bed.

After a couple of minutes Austin stood up and looked around, hoping for some kind of inspiration or comfort. That's when noticed the box of books his mom had gave him, they were just some books that his parents had in their basement and he had said he would like to read them. He got up and started looking through the books, mostly horror books and other random ones they had collected over the last couple of years. He had three stacks of books around him, all very mysterious and scary. Very his type. However, the last book in the box didn't look like horror or mystery.

"The Notebook?" Austin whispered to himself, picking it up and reading the cover and summary. Before he could stop himself he was deeply engrossed in the story.

Austin stayed up all night reading, he wasn't sure why, he wasn't a romance book type. Something about this book, though, captured his thoughts and he didn't understand why.

"Hey, Austin, I'm going down to the studio, bye!" called Trent from the living room. Austin didn't bother to answer, seeing as it was only 8 in the morning and he had already devoted the entire night to finishing this book and he only had one chapter left.

When Austin finished the book, he just held it and stared at the cover. Somehow the faces of what he deduced to be Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling, merged into his own and his very own Ally.

That was when he realized why he had kept reading, why it was so gripping and he just couldn't stop. Because, somewhere in that story, was his own life, and the love interest was Allie. Just like his Ally. Just like... Ally. Not his Ally. Ally wasn't his to claim, she was... what was his name? He didn't even know. He didn't even care, because he wanted Ally to himself.

*_knock*knock*_

"Ugh!" Austin said, heaving his tired self off of his bed and wrapping himself in his red blanket. "I'm coming, I'm coming!" Austin groused, way too quietly for whomever was at the door. "Who is it?" Austin swung the door open, dropping the blanket around his ankles when he saw her. The beautiful, little, brunette standing in his doorway, hand still fisted as if she was about to knock again. "Hi." Austin said, blocking the entryway into his apartment with his arm.

"Hi. Uh, I'm sorry to be by so early." she said, studying her hands and wringing them together, "But, um, I just wanted to say, uh, how do I start this?" she grabbed her head as she finished speaking, as if deep in thought.

"There's nothing to say. I get it. You're back with... whatever his name is... and-"

"Dallas, and what are you talking about?"

"I saw you, I saw you two in the café yesterday. You said you loved him. I get it, I get it, he was your first love and your first relationship and, I'm just about nothing. We're nothing!"

"Austin, no! Just let me-"

"Let me say this, it's already really hard and I don't know why. I get it. We're nothing, we've never ever been anything. Not that night on the beach, and not on that date, and just, never. We've never been anything and we'll never _be_ anything." Austin finished, looking her in the eye and fighting back the urge to kiss her.

"Austin!" Ally yelped, "That's not what I'm sayi-"

"Goodbye, maybe we'll, uh, meet again on some street corner in some other city one day." Austin began to close the door, before it was completely closed, he felt it stop. Looking down, he noticed a little yellow wedge stuck in the door and slowly opened it again.

"Austin, we are something. We've always been and I'm damn sure that we always will." Ally said, examining his eyes for any sign of regret or opposition to what she was saying. Without warning, Ally felt herself rising to her toes and connecting her lips with his, as if a wave of energy had pushed her forward. Almost the way their first kiss had felt. She stepped back, looking at Austin's warm but seemingly unemotional face. "I'm sorry. I'm really, really sorry." Ally said, "I'm an idiot, bye." and with that she was almost the the stairs when she heard the familiar voice of the boy she had met that night at the beach.

"Ally, wait up!" and the footsteps came running up behind her and her lips were against his and her back was against the wall.

**Hey everybody! Thanks for reading! :D Anyway, I made a couple of references to the movie, The Notebook, in this chapter - like the red blanket. And (just like about ****_every writer on this site _****I LOVE reviews! So PLEASE REVIEW! And I'd also love to hear your suggestions and ideas about the story, because, trust me, if it's better than mine I'll incorporate it! :D**

**(And of course give you credit! :D)**


	7. Chapter VI

**Hi guys! I really appreciate all of the awesome support and comments from you guys and that you guys are actually enjoying this story! I mean, it's my first story and it just means a lot to me that you guys actually care about it. Thanks :)**

Austin pulled away after about two minutes of kissing and leaned his head down in the space between him and Ally. "I had to do that one more time, at least for now." he said, breathing heavily.

"Austin, what?" Ally replied, breathing just as heavily.

"I don't care about what you said, ok," he looked deep into her eyes while saying that. "I know what I heard, you said, and I quote, 'I love you, too' to him."

"'His' name is Dallas. The least you could do is speak like he's not a dog!"  
Ally said, pushing Austin away from her.

"What? I thought you ended it with him because he is? Because, what did you say, he broke your heart? Cheated on you with some 'slut'?" Austin pushed back.

"I can't believe you!" Ally yelled, pulling her bag over her shoulder again since it had fallen off during the kiss. "Why do you think you know me so much? Why do you think you own me or something? And why the _HELL_ do you think it's ok to come running out here all romantic like the end of some movie or something and kiss me like _that_ and then say it was all because it's over. Because you had to do it 'one more time'."

"Ally, I-"

"Save it. I don't want to talk to you, ever, ever again. Just leave me the hell alone." Ally choked back force pulling her back to him, trying to coax her into falling for him and kissing him again. "I have to go now. And don't bother calling." With that, she turned on her heal and fixed her hair while she walked towards the stairs. Austin simply stared at her before putting his back against the wall and sliding down. Resting his head in his hands against his knees and mentally using every curse he knew against himself.

Ally walked outside and, not feeling up for the walk, hailed a taxi. During the drive it took all she had not to let the surge of tears forming behind her eyes through. After paying the driver and giving him the warmest smile and "have a nice day" that she could manage, she hurried into her building and ran up the stairs. Slamming the door behind her once in the apartment, she slid back against it and held her head between her knees and cried.

"Ally?" Trish asked, walking from her room. "What's going on? Are you crying? What happened at Austin's?" Trish sat down next to Ally, seeing that this wasn't the time for questions, and rubbed her back and let Ally rest her head on her shoulder. "Shhh." Trish said, quietly, over and over until Ally's tears had subdued and she sat back against the wall.

"Thank you, Trish." Ally croaked, looking sincere despite her bloodshot eyes.

"Any time." Trish smiled, leaning into Ally.

"I'm gonna go lay down." Ally said, standing and walking towards her bedroom. Trish rose as well and retreated into her bedroom.

Ally read the clock on her nightstand, 10:00 a.m. Only ten in the morning and it was already about as shitty as it could get. She paced around her bedroom for another fifteen minutes before finally settling on reading. After another 10 or so minutes looking through all her books she picked up the book she had been looking at the other night, The Notebook_._

"Okay, what the hell." Sitting back on her bed, Ally began to read. Being a pretty fast reader, it was about one in the afternoon when she finally finished. Closing the book, she found herself staring at the cover. She had always liked the fact that the main girl and her shared a name, regardless of the spelling difference. After about fifteen minutes of staring at the cover, she began to realize that the faces were no longer that of the actors from the movie. But much, much more familiar. She saw herself, wrapped up in the arms in the pouring rain of none other than the boy she had just been crying over. The one she was certain was both a devil and an angel. The one she in no doubt falling for, or possibly already in love with. The thought of being in love with him, this boy whom she had met all those years ago, this boy whom she shared one night with, this boy whom had run into her a sidewalk just a few days ago, scared her to no end. Out of about 8 million people in the city, this is the one that she had to run into! This is the one person in the world that she had both dreamt of seeing again and wished to never have to lay her eyes upon him again. The fact that scared her the most, though, was that Dallas was right. She wanted to be something to Austin.

Settling back into the pillows after replacing the book in the book shelf, Ally closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep. It was peaceful and when she awoke it was five. Ally checked her phone and, without realizing it, was silently wishing that when she hit the little home button that a missed call or a message from Austin would pop up. Nothing did. She cursed her stupidity and expectancy of him to call her or anything after the fit she had today. Deciding that she needed to make amends for what she did, Ally got up, fixed her hair which seemed to have an incurable case of bed-head. However, she knew it was only a way for her to stall what she knew was inevitable. She understood this because she knew her subconscious would only torture her if she didn't go. If she didn't try to make it right with Austin, whom, yes, she had decided that she _was_ in love with. Ally fixed her make-up, grabbed her purse and headed out the door with a quick shout to Trish telling her that she'd be back soon.

xxx

"You can do this! You can do this, Ally!" She gave herself a mental pep-talk while walking up the same stairs she had descended just a few hours earlier after her kiss with Austin. And the fight, yeah, that happened too.

Before knocking on the door, Ally repeated her little chant, urging herself to just get it over with.

_*knock*knock*_

"Okay, you can do this, Ally. Just say you're sorry and that you didn't mean what you said. You can do this." Wringing her hands, she eagerly awaited the door to open. When it finally did, she saw a face that was not Austin's. In fact, she had never seen it before. After a few seconds of shock, she put together that this must be Austin's roommate and her heart sank.

"Hi." Trent said, looking her in the eyes.

"Hi... um... is... uh... Austin here?" She stammered, peering into the apartment and seeing him sitting on the couch, watching something on T.V.

"Yeah, uh, who is it?"

"Ally. It's Ally."

"Yeah, I'm not sure he would want to talk to you right now." Trent said. Ally realized that Trent must have been Austin's confidante about this whole affair and she desperately tried to plea with her eyes, since she had nothing else to offer with words.

"Please. Please. I really need to talk to him."

"Austin, Ally's here." Trent sighed, giving up on getting her to leave his friend alone.

"Why?" Austin deadpanned, still engrossed in the television.

"Why?" Repeated Trent, curiously.

"I have to tell him that I'm really, really sorry about this morning. Please, let me talk to him!" Ally pleaded with Trent.

"Austin, just come talk to her. It can't hurt."

"Alright," Austin paused the T.V. and walked towards the door. He motioned to Trent that he'll be okay and walked into the hallway, closing the door behind him and standing directly in front of Ally.

"I'm not in love with Dallas." Ally started, "I'm in love with you". Austin nodded and she stood on her toes and kissed him, just as she had done earlier. Austin wrapped his arms around her and lifted her gently. The kiss got sweeter and more passionate, and before long they had to separate so they could breathe.

"Ally, I hope you already know this, but I love you, too." Austin said, smiling. He leaned in for another kiss - and that's when she woke up.

xxx

"Oh my God." Ally said, sitting up and putting her head in her hands. Her resolve was both strengthened and weakened by the dream. She needed to know if what he had said was true. Whether or not it was a dream, she knew it could be. She was, she was absolutely sure now that she was, so maybe he could be too.

Getting up she fixed her make-up and yelled to Trish. Once out the door she walked the few blocks to Austin's building and climbed the steps, repeating the same little chant that was featured in her dream. She knocked on the door and was surprised when Austin came to the door, rather than Trent. Then again, she wasn't some kind of psychic, so she wasn't sure why she was so surprised.

"Hi." Ally began.

"Hi." Austin said. Ally felt something off about him, just the way he said that and the way he was standing. Her eyes became worried and her smile started to fade. "I need to, uh, talk to you." Austin said, pushing her out of the doorway along with himself and shutting the door behind him.

Concern filled her voice and her person as she started to think of what to say. Finally deciding to get straight to the point, she looked Austin in the eyes, those amazing, gorgeous brown eyes, and started to speak.

"Ally, I'm glad you came by." Austin said, cutting off her thoughts.

"Well, me too." She laughed, suddenly feeling it was the worst thing she had ever said and her cheeks started to burn.

"Yeah, um, I need to tell you something." He continued.

"I do, too." Ally replied, wringing her hands again and fighting off the desire to chew on her hair - she had been trying to quit doing that for a couple of years now.

"You first." Austin said.

"No, you go ahead." Ally said, smiling easily.

"Same time?" Austin asked, immediately cursing out the stupid idea in his head.

"Okay." Ally replied, much to Austin's surprise. He looked over her whole self, just taking her in before responding.

"On three." Austin sounded exasperated and Ally picked up on it right away. Suddenly, she became very self-conscious, crossing her arms across her chest, despite the fact that what she was wearing was not at all revealing, and looking down at the floor. Austin began to count, dreadfully slow in Ally's opinion. She needed to get this out, she needed to tell him and she needed to know how he felt.

"1... 2..." Austin looked over her from head to toe. Taking her her beautiful ombré hair, her skin which seemed flawless, her eyes, her cheeks - just a little bit red from blushing. He felt a weight sink down upon him. He prepared himself to speak as he said, "3".

"I'm in love with you." Ally quickly responded, needing to get it in before whatever her might have to say. Unfortunately, her own words did not drown out his, and she felt the rush of tears surge through her and her eyes welled up. Her face was hot and she felt a single tear roll down her cheek. She heard his voice echo in her mind, over and over, "My record company transferred me to L.A.".

**Drama! I know, it was such a happy ending last chapter and now I go and bum you guys out! Sorry! Anyways, I ****_love_**** reviews just like every other author on this site :D. **

**I was reading another story and the author requested people to put their favorite quotes from the chapter in their review and I loved the idea so I thought I'd ask you guys the same if it isn't too much trouble :). **

**And of course, thank you for reading! Next chapter will be good, I promise!**


	8. Chapter VII

**Alright, so this is going to be a pretty long author's note. **

**THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR FOLLOWING AND REVIEWING AND FAVORITING IT'S AMAZING I LOVE YOU ALL!**

**O. M. G. (Megan Simms... idk.) ****_have you guys seen the spoiler clips for Couples & Careers and Spas & Spices._**** I died. I just, just died. I'm actually writing this from the beyond.**

**Okay, that was actually pretty short, but ****_anyway_**** ENJOY, and REVIEW. :D**

"Ally, hey, come here," he said, his voice cracking a little and he felt the tears welling up behind his eyes. He pulled her into a hug and let her start to silently cry. He felt awful, no, worse than awful... he felt every single synonym you could look up and then multiplied by about infinity. Yeah, that should accomplish how he felt making Ally cry like this.

"When do you have to leave?" Ally asked, surprised by the lack of sadness and unsureness in her voice, because she felt it.

"A couple of days," Austin replied, squeezing her back against him.

"Can we go inside?" Ally asked, stepping back and wiping her sleeve under her eyes despite them being almost dry.

"Absolutely," Austin replied, opening the door and leading Ally in. After closing the door and joining her on the couch where she had settled down, she said;

"So, why are the transferring you? I thought you were just moved to the city a couple of months ago?" Ally said, her voice cool.

"Well," Austin began, trying to decide how to word this with his mixed emotions, "my record label got me a movie deal to record and write a song. I was just going to write it over Skype and such with the other songwriter who is in L.A., but then Jimmy Starr himself called me just a few hours ago and told me that they saw some of my acting from a while ago and want me to audition for the lead along with the song. Jimmy said that they've been having a hard time finding the right guy to play the lead but they saw me and said that I was perfect... or something. Ally, I... I just don't know what to do." He finished his story and leaned his head back on the couch. Ally just watched and fought to keep herself from croaking when she spoke before talking.

"You have to go," she finally said.

"What?" Austin's head shot up and found her eyes, staring deep into them. "Why would you want me to go? I mean, if I heard right just out there you said- and I- Ally, you know I feel the same way right? That's why, y'know. Because I can't leave New York." Austin knew that what he was saying just sounded jumbled and confused. He looked to Ally and tried to decipher her eyes and her face, to see if she knew what he was saying.

"Wow..." Ally started, but eventually cutting herself off there.

"I don't want to go anywhere, Ally. I don't want to leave because... because I'm in love with you, too." Austin just gazed into her eyes, trying to translate what kind of emotions they were displaying in response.

"I know. I know, now. But, Austin, I don't really know you. But-" damn it, her voice cracked, "this is... this... this is your career and I can't take that away from you. It makes no sense." She smiled at him most sincerely, then looked down at her hands. Austin put his fingers under her chin and raised it to look into his eyes.

"I was going to go, I was. Before you showed up and said all that, but trust me, when you were saying that, when I look into your eyes, I know for sure that I only belong here. I only belong with you." He brought her lips to his for a small, sweet kiss. That only lasted a moment. Ally felt all the pressure and sadness and happiness of that day bubble up to her lips and push them harder against Austin's. He happily obliged to the pick up in pace and this went on for a while, their tongues dancing with each other's.

xxx

Austin and Ally spent every moment of the next four days together. Ally didn't have any work at the moment and Austin brought her to the studio the few times her went. The rest of the time they spent in the park, in the café, and just walking the streets. And kissing, there was kissing. On the evening of the fourth day, Austin and Ally walked up the stairs towards Austin's apartment. They went inside and sat on the couch, still laughing about a man they had seen on the subway.

"I'm gonna go to the bathroom, one sec," Ally said, walking toward the hall leaving Austin to tend to a box of cookies they had bought on their way back from the park and intended to share that evening while watching a movie.

Ally walked out of the bathroom and heard Austin singing the new song he had been recording that morning. Ally laughed and started walking back down the hall, but before she got to the end she ducked into Austin's room and slowly shut the door. She intended to look around and see what embarrassing kinds of things he had in his room since that was his favorite "game" to play when they were at her apartment. He had found some things she didn't want to explain and ended up with throwing one pillow at him so many times that he said he was sure that there was a dent the shape of his head in it. She looked around the room and, after not finding anything in the general areas - closet and under the bed, she moved on to his desk. She shuffled through a couple of papers, one she noticed was about flight information to L.A. Ally disregarded this as she was having a great time and Austin had decided that he was going to stay in New York and not audition for the movie. Ally felt guilty, she knew that making him stay was wrong, but what's the hurt when he wants to stay, too, right? She shuffled around for a couple more seconds before giving up and making her way back to the door because Austin was probably already scrolling through NetFlix with half of the box of cookies already gone. However, something on his nightstand caught her eye. She moved toward it cautiously, and picked up the slip of paper. Her heart sank. It was a plane ticket to L.A., scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. A tear crept down her face before she realized what was happening and wiped it away. Returning to the living room she sat down on the couch and snuggled up in Austin's arms.

"What movie do you wanna watch?" Austin asked, nudging her into him.

"Um.. what's that one?" Ally said, pointing to the image that she knew was so familiar. She wasn't expecting Austin to say "yes" to a romance, but she kind of wanted to try, just because this was the movie of the book that had made her realize that she loved Austin. Plus it was a pretty good movie.

"The Notebook?" Austin asked, smiling and trying to sound cocky, "It's a romance chick-flick isn't it?" Ally smiled and nodded. "Okay," Austin said and clicked "order".

"Really?" Ally asked, looking at Austin.

"Uh huh," Austin looked back at her, "it's kind of embarrassing, but in all honesty, I like romance movies. But _don't_ tell anyone, okay? The only one that knows is my best friend Dez."

"Okay, got it." Ally laughed, snuggling closer into his chest and watching the movie begin and the old man getting ready to read on the screen. Austin kissed her forehead and leaned his head on hers.

xxx

After the movie, Austin stood up and brought the empty cookie box to the trash.

"Austin," Ally started, "I've been thinking. About that night on the beach, y'know, when we..."

"Yeah." Austin chuckled a little but felt his cheeks turn a light red.

"Well, we've 'known' each other for a while now and we've never really talked about what happened?"

"There's not much to talk about, is there?" Austin inquired, sitting down in the chair across from the couch.

"I don't know, I mean, don't you ever think about it? How or why we even let it happen? We were 18! We had just met and we were on a freaking beach!" Ally was becoming passionate about her speech and she wasn't completely sure why.

"We were in the moment." Austin said, looking Ally up and down and then settling on just looking at her face and her eyes. Something about her eyes captivated him and he wasn't sure why because it was so cheesy.

"In the mome-," Ally stopped, realizing a question that was much more interesting and important to her at the moment, "Were you a..." she looked down and tried to finish the sentence. When she glanced at Austin he was slowly nodding and looking at her.

"I'm assuming it's mutual?"

"Um...," Ally continued scrutinizing her palms but nodded as well. Austin got up and moved to the couch, putting a hand on hers and the other on her leg. He kissed her neck, then her jaw, then her cheek, and finally her lips. Reliving that night did something to him, it made Austin want her just the same and he didn't know why but I really didn't feel like questioning it.

For now, let's just say that history has a way of repeating itself...

xxx

It was five o'clock the next morning. Ally woke up in Austin's bed and after a moment of waking up, realized what had happened last night. The heat and the passion and everything came flooding back to her, but along with all that came the overwhelming sense of dread and regret. Looking over at the nightstand, she saw the ticket still sticking out from under a book and began to register just why she felt that way. Ally felt her eyes grow tired and start to sting, looking over at Austin sleeping peacefully, she raised his arm from across her and got out from under the covers. Retrieving her clothes from the night before from around the room (except for her shirt which she figured was in the living room). Ally took a notepad off of Austin's desk and started to write as quickly as possible so that she wouldn't wake up Austin. After about five minutes she looked at her scrawled handwriting but heartfelt letter and read it to herself;

_Austin, _

_I know I said I love you, and I really need you to know that that couldn't be more true. I love you more than I've loved anyone or anything in my entire life. You don't know how many times that I've thought about that night and about you, and how much I've enjoyed spending all this time together lately. However, I saw the ticket, and I just know that I would hate myself forever if I knew that I was holding you back from something so amazing as a movie deal. I just can't bear to hold that burden on my shoulders. Please, don't try to talk to me or call. Please don't come over. It will just make my decision that much harder. Please go, and I promise I'll go see the movie the day it comes to theaters at midnight, because it's true, I love you. Thank you for everything that you've taught me about myself and I know I'm getting sappy but it's true. Go to L.A. and follow your dreams while I stay here and find my own path. Honestly, last night was the perfect way to say goodbye. Perhaps we'll meet again on some street corner in some other city one day. _

_Love,_

_Ally_

With that, Ally folded the note twice, wrote Austin's name on it as perfectly as possible with a heart, then pulled her lipstick from her purse, put some on, then kissed his name. Laying the note on the pillow where her head had rested, she made her way out of his bedroom, grabbed her shirt and jacket, and headed back to her apartment.

She cried for the remainder of that morning. After he hadn't called and it was already five, she finally believed he had boarded the plane to L.A. Trish made her some hot chocolate and the two of them spent the next few days together in their pajamas watching movies. Trish kept reassuring her that she had made the right choice and that he'll call her soon, or that she'll see him soon.

Little did she know that it would be 3 more years until she met the boy from the beach again.

**Okay, so, I will follow the first person that comments the Friends reference in this chapter because Friends is my ****_favorite show EVER, _****and I just felt that it needed to be incorporated :). Anyway, I'd love to hear all of your favorite quotes from this chapter *wink*wink* so I know what you guys like! I love constructive criticism too! Also, because I'm going to put the little Spencer quote at the end of just about every chapter now... OOO DRAMA! :D**


	9. Chapter VIII

_Chapter VIII:_

**Sorry for the week long wait for a new chapter! I've been super busy and I was really at a loss for inspiration of what should come next in the story. Anyway, I figured out where I wanted the next chapter to go while sitting in social studies so "yay" for boring speeches about Japan (no offense to Japan :D). I hope you enjoy this chapter and trust me the drama is only getting thicker! So, enjoy and read on! Make sure to REVIEW please, I really love to read them and I love how involved you guys are! :D**

_Three Years Later: JFK Airport, New York City, New York:_

"Bye Trish." Ally said, kissing her friends cheek and grabbing her little carry on suitcase. She fixed her shoulder-strap of her purse and handed the attendant her ticket, smiling back at Trish again.

Ally had recently gotten a job to work for a company in L.A. writing music for big celebrities, originally she had been working from her apartment in New York and sending her ideas and songs to the company. As she climbed in importance and "hierarchy" of the company her boss decided that she needed to come to L.A. and work for him professionally in an office. Ally wasn't excited about leaving, per se, because of the fact that she had never worked in a real office and had never been away from her family or Trish for a very long time and now she was moving and is going to be in a new place with absolutely nobody to fall back on. To put it simply, she was scared. Terrified even. But in all her years Ally had gotten to be fed up with being scared and shy and this was part of her plan to become more outgoing and brave. When she decided to go to school for music in New York, that was her first big step in overcoming her shyness but she knew that she always had Trish to back her up. After a week of convincing from her boss in L.A. and constant support and encouragement from Trish and her parents, she took the job. Now all her boxes were sent and a few suitcases were on the plane and she was walking down the hall towards the plane... and so much more.

When Ally got on board she found a seat and made herself comfortable near the window and took out her book, Little Women, one of her favorites. "Hi, is this seat taken?" A girl asked, Ally shook her head then looked up and smiled,

"No, go ahead." Ally returned to her book and opened it to the page that she had left off on.

"My name's Cassidy," the girl said, putting her bags in the compartment and sitting in the aisle seat, leaving the middle for extra space since it was a relatively empty flight considering it was about six o'clock in the morning.

"Ally," Ally said, closing her book and turning to speak to the girl.

"Where are you headed?" Cassidy asked, seeming sincerely interested. Ally thought this a refreshing fact since she found it so hard to meet anyone that actually wanted to have a conversation with you, let alone actually be interested in anything the other person had to say.

"I'm a songwriter," Ally responded, determined to actually have a conversation with this girl, "I got a job in L.A. so I'm moving out there. What about you?"

"You're a songwriter? That's awesome! I'm in a band, we just got signed to Starr Records a few months back and we were recording some stuff for a month. I'm the lead singer and the rest of my band went back to L.A. yesterday but I stayed to do a little extra writing," Cassidy said, stopping somewhat short realizing how long she had been talking. Ally smiled at her the two of them continued their conversation for another half an hour before Cassidy settled back into her seat after deciding to take a nap and Ally took out her book again.

"Do you have a boyfriend?" Cassidy asked, about 2 hours later, stretching and looking curious. Ally, startled by her question's personal level and the fact that she was pretty sure that Cassidy had still been asleep, closed her book and sighed.

"No," Ally said, finally, turning her head toward the girl as she cracked her neck from the odd position that she had been sleeping in. "Do you?" Ally inquired.

"Um, we don't have to talk about that, I'm sorry. I was just making conversation," Cassidy said quickly. She returned her seat to its original position, much to the gratitude of the man sitting behind her, and awkwardly smiled at Ally.

"I should suppose you do," Ally laughed a little, "It's okay, tell me about him?" Cassidy smiled at her kindness, obviously surprised, and started to speak again;

"Well, uh, we've been dating for about a year now. Um, actually he helped me get my-I mean our, like my band and me- our contract at Starr Records. He's really great and um... he's signed there too. He's... he's just really sweet and I'm really excited to see him 'cause I haven't spent any time with him for, like, over two months." Cassidy sighed, feeling she was talking far too much about something she assumed that Ally wasn't at all interested in. Ally smiled back at her, with abnormally rapt attention. It was less the girl or her story of this boy that she was with, it was mostly just the mentioning of Starr Records and a guy that was so sweet. Obviously any girlfriend would say the latter but it still felt like she had a connection with this girl because of it. She couldn't quite tell if the connection was good or bad yet, but she was going to make good of it for the time being and see how things turned out, after all, she'd probably never see this girl again after they got off of this plane.

"15 minutes until we land in sunny Los Angeles, you know what to do," the captain's voice rang over the loudspeaker and a chorus of seat's being raised and tray tables being snapped back into place followed the crackle showing that he was finished speaking.

When the plane finally landed, everyone stood up and Ally silently thanked everyone on the plane for not clapping like idiots. Cassidy grabbed her bags from the compartment and handed Ally hers. They walked down the aisle in tandem and next to each other down the little hall to the airport. Parting ways, the two girls said goodbye and smiled again at each other. Ally tried to memorize her face considering she would probably never see her again so that she could always remember her friend that she had made on the plane to her new life.

While they were walking Cassidy dropped her coat and had to stop to pick it up, having already said goodbye and after Cassidy refused help, Ally continued into the airport and towards the baggage claim. This was the moment that changed everything for her. There, sitting just a few seats away from where she was standing, was a certain blonde boy whom she knew very well and had never quite _forgotten_ about, even though she always knew it was much more. After a moment's contemplation of what to do next, Ally decided to walk towards him. Perhaps he would see her, maybe he would hug her and maybe kiss her or... the thought had never occurred to her that it was weird for Austin to just be hanging around the airport for no reason, because, of course there was a reason. Ally heard a squeal from behind her and saw the blonde boy stand up and open his arms. Cassidy came running out from the gate and towards the boy, dropping her little backpack and jumping up into his arms. He spun her around and around and when he finally put her down her kissed her passionately on the lips. Ally felt a buried memory resurface with that kiss, one that had been pushed down and pulled back up it hurt her head just to think about it. Quickly, she collected her suitcase which was standing next to her and made her way towards the sign that said "Baggage Claim".

"Hey," she heard a voice call, turning around she saw the Cassidy holding the hand of the blonde boy and waving, "come here! I thought you had already left, I wanna introduce you to someone!" Cassidy was beaming and she leaned against the boy and looked into his eyes. When their eyes left each others, Ally locked her gaze on the boy whose eyes had found their way to staring at hers.

"Ally," was what the boy managed to say when he could make a sound.

**OOO drama! I know you all love it! :D Anyways, I would love it if in your ****_reviews_**** you would tell me your favorite quote or part of the chapter? Thanks a ton for reading! I love you all! VIRTUAL HUGS ALL AROUND!**


	10. Chapter IX

**So, I thought that since everyone reacted so well to the last chapter that I would post the next chapter today :D Anyways... this story is almost to 100 comments! I love everything you guys have to say!**

**P.S. Shout out to Frenchie12 whose idea inspired this entire chapter! Thanks! :D**

"Uh, hey, Austin..." Ally said, doing a strange little walk-dance over to him, resorting back to something she would have done in high school during an awkward situation.

"Wait wait wait, you guys know each other?" Cassidy asked, looking from her boyfriend to her new friend.

"Uh, yeah, Babe, we were um," Austin tried to explain, looking to Ally for help.

"We were friends, back in New York. While he was recording there we, um, got to be pretty close. We, uh, lost touch when he came to L.A.," Ally finished, smiling nonchalantly towards the couple.

"Well, that's great," Cassidy finally decided, bouncing up and down. "Now we don't have to go through all that introducing stuff and we can just hang out, of course, only if you want to, Ally."

"Uh, yeah, sure, why not?" Ally stuttered, "But I should probably get to "Baggage Claim" and I gotta go find this building that my company's putting me up in and..."

"Oh, where?" Cassidy asked. Ally handed her a sheet of paper with all her information and Cassidy began jumping up and down showing it to Austin excitedly, Austin only nodded and faked a smile. "Oh my God! Ally, you live in the same building as us!"

"Really," Ally asked, genuinely excited for a moment.

"Yeah," Cassidy explained, "this is where they put up all the employees and artists for Starr Records that don't have their own place, didn't you know that this company is a branch of Starr Records?"

"No," Ally said, taking back the piece of paper and searching for any clue to this she may have missed.

"Well, come on, Ally. We'll help you get your bags. We can all take my truck back," Austin said, holding Cassidy's hand and gesturing for Ally to come along. Ally followed behind, dragging her suitcase looking like a lost puppy.

xxx

"So, here it is! Casa de Cassidy!" Cassidy exclaimed, swinging her door open, not bothering to knock and surprising a girl on the couch. The girl quickly got up and gave her a hug. "Kira! Oh my God it's so great to see you!" The two girls embraced and screeched. Austin and Ally shared a glance but quickly turned away. Ally was fighting off the engrossing desire to chew on her hair.

"CASS!" A chorus of voices yelled at the door, footsteps following. Cassidy was lifted up by 4 guys all yelling and laughing.

"GUYS, oh my God it's so great to see you guys!" Cassidy yelled, being lifted by the group. "Ally, this is my band, this is Kevin, Ethan, Danny, and Elliot."

"Hi," Elliot said, making his way towards Ally. "Ally, right? I'm very glad to meet you." Ally started to blush while Elliot smiled at her.

"Don't listen to him, Ally, he's the biggest nerd in our band," Cassidy laughed. "He carried around a glue gun until he was 17, we had to have an intervention!" The rest her bandmates was cracking up and Elliot laughed sarcastically, turning his attention back to Ally.

"So, where are you from, Ally?"

"I'm from Miami, then uh, I just came from New York City, 'cause um, that's where I lived for a while." Ally knew she was stammering but she couldn't help it. Elliot was definitely cute and it's not like anything was going to happen with Austin considering his girlfriend was standing right there and she had realized during the ride here that if she was going to live so close to him that she was going to need to get over him.

"Hey, Cass, I know you just got home and all but I was wondering if you wanted to hear a song I wrote while you were gone?" Austin asked, holding onto his girlfriends hand. Ally couldn't help the feeling bubbling up inside of her, but she couldn't explain why she still felt this way after three years. That was when it hit her, closure. She needed closure. Watching Austin go across the room leading Cassidy to a guitar on a stand, picked it up and positioned himself in front of Cassidy. Kira and the rest of Cassidy's band gathered up around and Elliot held his hand out to Ally to stand next to him. They watched as Austin started to dance in the living room,

_When the crowd wants more  
I bring on the thunder  
'Cause you got my back  
And I'm not going under _

Cassidy was dancing and smiling while Austin continued singing.

_You're my point  
You're my guard  
You're the perfect chord  
And I see our names together on every billboard _

_We're headed for the top  
We got 'em on lock  
We'll make 'em say "Hey!"  
'Cause there's no stopping us  
When we hit the same but different  
We're never gonna quit  
And we'll keep rocking! _

_There's no way I can make it without you  
Do it without you  
Be here without you  
It's no fun when you're doing it solo  
With you it's like whoa  
Yeah and I know  
I, own this dream  
Cause I've got you with me  
There's no way I can make it without you  
Do it without you  
Be here without you _

Austin finished and put the guitar back on the stand, taking a hug and a kiss from Cassidy making half of the population of the room make disgusted sounds while Ally's whole body seemed to go numb.

"It's not done yet," Austin said when the two separated.

"I love it anyway!" Cassidy said, putting her arm around him.

"Exactly, though, I was hoping you would help me finish it?" Austin nudged her back.

"Sure, Blondie." Cassidy replied. Ally leaned over to Kira who was standing on the opposite side of her for a an explanation,

"It's a pet name she used while Austin was trying to ask her out," Kira said, nearly reading Ally's mind and it startled her. "Don't get jumpy, I'm good at reading people's actions." Kira smiled and Ally returned it.

When everyone separated because Kira had put out some chips and soda, Ally took Austin by the arm and asked if they could talk for a minute.

"Sure, Ally," Austin replied, obviously shocked at her request and looking towards his friends and girlfriends called out, "I'll be back in a sec." The two of them made their way onto the balcony of Cassidy's apartment and Austin sat down on one of the two lounge chairs. Ally sat down on the adjacent one and sighed. "So? Why are we out here?" Austin asked.

"I just wanted to see how you were..." Ally said, trying to come up with an excuse but failing miserably and cursing herself in her head for not coming up with one before she came out here.

"Ally, I get it. You're here and you're surprised to see me. I have to say the feeling is mutual. But I'm happy with Cassidy and I know you've moved on too so I think we should try to be friends, okay? You know, none of the awkwardness like earlier." Ally's masquerade was enough to make Austin smile and pat her knee. "Great." Austin stood up and started to walk toward the door.

"Why did you leave!? Why didn't you call me or write to me?" Ally yelled as Austin reached towards the door handle, Austin spun around to see Ally standing with her fists clenched and a tear on her cheek.

"Because you told me not to!" Austin said, walking towards Ally, "You made it pretty _damn_ clear in the _letter_ you left me. You didn't even have the _damn courtesy_ to tell me to my face! Ally, you are so... so..." Ally walked up to him putting a hand on his shoulder and kissed him gently on the lips. Austin pushed back for a split second before pulling back and pushing Ally away from him. "What the _hell_ are you doing! Ally I'm in a relationship! I'm happy! Why are you screwing with me?"

"I guess I have closure now," Ally said, bumping Austin's shoulder with her own as she opened the door and made her way back inside the apartment.

"Ally..." Austin stood on the balcony and finally wrapped his mind around what had just happened and made his way inside. When he got inside he was greeted by Cassidy jumping up next to him and stuffing a chip in his mouth.

"Hey, Ally," Elliot said making his way towards her, "I know we just met and stuff, but do you wanna grab dinner sometime?"

Ally looked towards Austin, feeling the butterflies in her stomach start to die and she watched him kiss and laugh with Cassidy. "Absolutely." Ally finally answered, smiling at Elliot and touching his arm. Austin watched from the corner of his eyes while Ally flirted with Elliot and felt a swarm of butterflies spin up in his stomach and a wave of some emotion he wasn't quite sure how to define wash over him.

Austin found Ally's eyes while she was dancing with Elliot and he was sitting next to Cassidy and they shared a glance neither of them could describe as anything but electric, whether it was a shock that would restart a heart or cut down a tree, it was there and it was powerful enough for both of them to look away as quickly as their eyes had found each other.

**Oooo drama! Again. Always. Always drama. Anyway I ****_love_**** reviews and I also love constructive criticism and ideas for the story. I got the idea of Elliot being in the band from Frenchie12 whom I thanked before but I just wanted to give them credit! **

**Also, I'd love to hear your favorite parts or quotes from the chapter for inspiration, thank you!**


	11. Chapter X

**Thanks for all the great feedback, the drama continues so enjoy! :D Plus, for all you Auslly lovers out there that like my fanfictions, I've got a surprise for you!**

_*Ring*Ring*_

"Hello?" Ally yawned into the receiver.

"Morning, Ally," she heard Cassidy's voice on the other end, "Do you wanna come to the recording studio today, y'know, the whole band would love to have another songwriter to listen... so, y'wanna come?"

"Absolutely," Ally said, sitting upright, "When?"

"Want to meet at my apartment around 10? Austin's gonna come too so it won't just be a bunch of people you don't really know or anything."

"Okay, see ya then." Ally rubbed her eyes and checked the clock on her nightstand, 9:12 a.m., looking around at all the unpacked boxes she yawned and stood up. It took her all of 15 minutes to get dressed and make her breakfast so she just hung out until 9:55 then headed over to Cassidy's.

"Hey, Ally," Cassidy chimed, waving goodbye to Kira who was eating breakfast and moving Ally out the door. "We just gotta go by Austin's apartment, he's always sleeping in late." Cassidy smiled as she and her and Ally walked down the hall and the stairs.

"Knock, Knock," the two of them called, rapping at the door and laughing.

"Calm down you two!" Austin opened the door and pulled his jacket off of a hook. He put it on and escorted the two of them out of his apartment and they continued to the lobby. "So, Cassy, what work of musical perfection are we going to hear today?" He nudged his girlfriend and, realizing their company, slowly pulled away giving Ally an awkward smile. He resolved to just holding Cassidy's hand as they walked to the corner to Austin's truck.

When they arrived at Starr Records' main building, they parked in a "reserved for artists" parking spot and went in, smiling and waving at the woman behind the main desk. Cassidy's band was already waiting in the studio along with their manager and another man to work with the sound board. Cassidy and her band went into the sound booth, Cassidy grabbing a couple of sheets of music out of her bag and giving one to her manager. Austin grabbed one copy, smiling at his girlfriend, then took a seat on the couch alongside Ally whom had already made herself as comfortable as possible.

"Alright, we're just going to practice this time," said their manager into a microphone and winked at the band. Just then they started to play and the music began drifting into the outer room and had everyone dancing in their seats. It was really a good song, Ally had to admit, hoping that hers were as good or better, though.

About an hour later the band's manager called them out of the booth, praising the two songs that they had successfully recorded and gathered them together, gesturing toward the door. All of them headed out the door and towards an office to discuss, leaving Austin, Ally, and the sound manager to themselves. he made a discrete and hasty exit into a room going off of the booth room and it was just the two of them left.

"So, what have you been doing since New York? We haven't really gotten to talk since you arrived yesterday," Austin started, staring into the booth and avoiding Ally's gaze.

"Just some songs," Ally replied, scrutinizing her palms.

"Do you have any I could read, perhaps...," Austin said to her after a few moments.

"Um...," Ally looked at Austin, hoping for some kind of answer as to whether his request was genuine or the spawn of an awkward situation, "Sure, I have one in my bag I think."

"May I read it?"

"Yeah," Ally grabbed her iPad out of her purse and scrolled through the pages, searching for the correct app, "here, it's called 'You Can Come To Me, but y'know, it's a work in progress," Ally said, handing him the iPad after opening her most recent song.

"This... this is awesome," Austin said, reading through it over and over, "can you sing a little?"

"I will if you will," Ally smiled, suddenly regretting it, "it's kinda a duet."

"Yeah, come on," Austin grabbed Ally's hand and pulled her into the booth. Standing in front of the mic she smiled at him and started to sing.

_When you're on your own  
Drowning alone  
And you need a rope that can pull you in  
Someone will throw it_

Austin smiled and studied the iPad, then began to sing:

_And when you're afraid  
That you're gonna break  
And you need a way to feel strong again  
Someone will know it_

Both of them were smiling, Ally started in again and the moved closer to each other, abandoning the microphones.

_And even when it hurts the most  
Try to have a little hope  
'Cause someone's gonna be there when you don't  
When you don't_

If you wanna cry, I'll be your shoulder  
If you wanna laugh, I'll be your smile  
If you wanna fly, I will be your sky  
Anything you need that's what I'll be

If you wanna climb, I'll be your ladder  
If you wanna run, I'll be your road  
If you want a friend, doesn't matter when  
Anything you need, that's what I'll be  
You can come to me

That's when they felt it, a spark jumping between the two of them and making their hearts beat abnormally fast. Both of them quickly looked away but were drawn back to each other's eyes, Ally gathered herself and sang the last few notes:

_You can come to me,  
Yeah_

Finishing, the two of them heard a clapping from outside the booth and looked abruptly towards the sound man.

"What are you doing?" Austin yelled at the man, taking off the headphones and walking out the door.

"Well," the man began, "I had to grab a couple of notes I made during the session and you two were singing in the booth, I turned on the mic for just a moment but it was such a good song. I had to keep listening to it, who wrote it?"

"Me," Ally explained, "I'm a songwriter, I've just started working for a branch of Starr Records and I'm just hanging out with a couple of friends."

"Well, they've certainly found a diamond. That was an amazing song, and um, if you want a copy... the machine was recording," the man grabbed his computer and after a few actions that Ally couldn't quite understand, he had copied the song, apparently, to a USB and handed it to Ally. At this moment, the band came back laughing and the three people broke apart.

"Hi, Ally," Elliot came over to Ally, smiling, "so, about that date."

"Yeah," Ally smiled shyly, receiving a laugh from Elliot and an unknown glance from a certain blonde boy talking with the rest of the band.

"How about this evening, unless you've got other plans," Elliot inquired.

"Absolutely," Ally agreed, feeling herself becoming more outgoing, but an all too familiar sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"So, babe, are we still on for our date tonight?" Cassidy asked her boyfriend, regaining his concentration and grinned.

"Yep," Austin replied, hugging her with the arm already around her.

"Come everyone, out," the manager called, everyone left the room and he escorted them to the lobby. Ally, Cassidy, and Austin made their way to Austin's truck and started home. When they arrived, all three parted ways to prepare for their evenings.

At 6 o'clock, Ally had gotten dressed and did her hair. There was a knock at the door and Ally joined Elliot in the hall and they walked towards the stairs, on their way they met Austin who was coming to collect Cassidy for their date.

xxx

"So, Ally, what made you want to write music?" Elliot inquired, watching her pick at the bread in her hand.

"Oh, um, sorry. In kindergarten... we had to write a song and it I wrote one about a butterfly." Ally felt the words tumbling from her lips, she couldn't quite form a good sentence and she wasn't sure why. It wasn't anything in the way of "butterflies" because of Elliot, maybe more of a guilt. She felt it welling up inside her and wasn't really sure why.

"Well, that's pretty cool...," Elliot pressed. Ally knew she should be focused on her date, but she couldn't help thinking of Austin. In the way Elliot smiled and laughed, she couldn't help comparing it to Austin, everything he said was just a comparison to Austin, but it wasn't very much of a contest to her.

After they ate, Elliot took the hint and drove Ally back to her apartment, before she got out of the car he said, "We don't have to do this again if you don't want to." Elliot looked ahead at the wheel and then to Ally. "I get it, there's probably someone that you're not over or you're just not ready for anything or you're busy. Or, y'know, maybe you just don't like me?"

"No no no," Ally smiled apologetically, "You're a great guy and I do like you, it's just, you're right. I definitely have some... uh, unfinished business to take care of before I get involved with anyone or anything, plus work and all."

"Okay, but friends right?" Elliot asked, looking into her eyes.

"Of course," Ally replied, "goodnight." She kissed him on the cheek and pushed the car door open. "Thank you so much for dinner." She walked into the lobby and towards the stairs.

xxx

"Austin, why are you acting so strange tonight?" Cassidy asked, taking a bite of pizza and looking at her boyfriend.

"I'm not acting strange," Austin replied, nearly done with his pizza which he had eaten impressively fast, "I'm just really hungry."

"Ha, okay, but you're always hungry," Cassidy stated, laughing a little and dropping the topic. Austin stood up once he had finished and said, "You mind if we cut the date short tonight? I'm feeling a little ill, actually."

"Yeah, Austin, of course we can," Cassidy finished he slice and quickly drank the rest of her soda, "let's go."

"Thanks," Austin replied, giving her a kiss on the lips which turned into a kiss on the cheek when she dodged it, commenting that she didn't want to catch anything he had. When they got back to their apartment building, Austin walked Cassidy up to her room and, after confirming to her that he was sure it wasn't contagious, kissed her goodnight.

"Oh, sorry," Austin said quickly after bumping shoulders with someone.

"It's alright," Ally replied, then, realizing that it was Austin, laughed. Austin returned it and touched her shoulder.

"Well, night," Ally said, making her way around Austin.

"Hey, wait," Austin called after her, "do you wanna hang out some time?" Austin felt immediately stupid after asking, with all there history there was no way that she would want to spend more time with him than she had to.

"Sure," Ally said, "when?"

"Oh, uh, do you wanna hang out now?" Austin rushed out the request and kept regretting everything coming out of his mouth.

"Yeah, it's only 7:30, why not," Ally replied, walking with him towards the stairs.

xxx

"Here ya go," Austin said, handing Ally a bottle of beer and sat down on the couch a few feet away, opening his own bottle.

"So, what do you wanna talk about?" Ally asked, taking a sip. Anxious, she stood up and started pacing around the room.

"Nothing, I don't know, I just felt like we ought to talk, y'know, about us and stuff," Austin said slowly, almost testing her reaction to mentioning their relationship.

"There isn't much to discuss, Austin, we were just a fling, honestly," Ally walked towards a bookcase and started flicking her finger across the spines.

"Mystery, mystery, action, horror, do you have any books that aren't- whoa, what is this?" Ally laughed at the book she held in her hand, "You read sappy romances?"

"No!" Austin jumped and grabbed the well-worn book from her hand, pulling it quickly away but not before a paper fluttered out of the cover, he cursed himself in his mind and quickly reached for it. Unfortunately for him, Ally's reflexes had beaten him to it and she had already grabbed it and held it tight. "Give," Austin playfully demanded, reaching behind her back for her hand and trying to tug it out of her hand. She took off through the room and made her way around the coach, of course Austin followed in hot pursuit.

After one of the least exciting chases in history, Austin tackled Ally on the couch but she held tight to the note and held it out of Austin's reach.

"Just let me read it." Ally demanded, standing quickly and, after realizing that Austin was going to honor her request to read it, she opened it. Austin put his face in his hands shook it slightly, waiting for the response that he knew would come from the letter. After a moment, Ally let her eyes lift from the page and, with a tear threatening to escape, managed to say;

"You kept it."

**Do I even have to say it? Well, I will anyway, OOO drama! ****_Who can guess what he kept? _****I have a surprise for all of you guys that are fans of my fics and Auslly, perhaps an all new fanfic soon :)? Thanks again for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :D**


	12. Chapter XI

**Sorry for the week long wait for a new chapter, I've been super busy and I just could not find any inspiration for what to happen in this chapter. Anyway, thank you guys for all the awesome feedback on the story, as long as you keep reading and reviewing, I'll keep writing. Enjoy!**

_"Just let me read it." Ally demanded, standing quickly and, after realizing that Austin was going to honor her request to read it, she opened it. Austin put his face in his hands shook it slightly, waiting for the response that he knew would come from the letter. After a moment, Ally let her eyes lift from the page and, with a tear threatening to escape, managed to say;_

_"You kept it."_

xxx

Ally let her fingers fiddle with the edges of the worn note, a tear threatening to roll out from the back of her eye.

"Sometimes," Austin started, lifting his head from his hands. "I read it when I miss you." That statement broke the dam and Ally felt her cheeks becoming wet. She dried them with her sleeve, over and over again, but she couldn't stop and she honestly didn't know why. She tried to collect herself enough to speak, but ended up sitting down in the chair closest to her and sighed, feeling the pain in her chest and the water in her eyes subside.

"Why?"

"What do you mean. 'why'?" Austin replied, surprised by his monotonous voice, because he surely felt the weight of the situation in his heart.

"Why would you keep this?" Ally felt her voice crack, but didn't care.

"Because...," Austin stood up and moved to the small space unoccupied in the chair she was in, "it was the only thing I had left of you." She laid her head on his shoulder. "But, I want you to know something." Ally lifted her head and met his eyes.

"What?"

"I was never going to go to L.A., at least not until I woke up and found this," he grabbed the letter and turned it over in his hands, letting his finger line the faded lipstick. "The ticket, it was a bribe, from Jimmy Starr, he was hoping that I would let go of whatever was keeping me in New York when I got it, and I guess I did."

"_Or I did for you_," Ally thought.

"But why didn't you throw it out, weren't you mad at me?" Ally asked, slowly feeling her resolve return.

"Ally, I could never be mad at you," Austin replied, taking her hand in his own and slowly massaging it.

"I'm sorry," she couldn't think of any other reply and hoped that her words could somehow portray everything she wanted to say, although she knew they never could.

"Ally, I never stopped having feelings for you. Why would I?" Austin's voice became more heated, more passionate, "It took everything in me to turn down that movie when they offered it to me, but I thought I had something even better... with you," Austin looked down at his hands, he had started pacing, "obviously you didn't feel the same, though, because you left me with nothing but that! That note! That was all you gave me!" Austin felt his voice rising and tried to keep himself from choking.

"Austin! I'm so SO sorry!" Ally cried, standing and trying to stop him from pacing, but he felt like everything that had been bottled up for so many tears was coming out in his speech.

"Do you want to know, Ally, how I felt that morning? When I woke up and you weren't there, after we had just... y'know... and we had both said that we loved each other, then you just left." Austin let Ally sit him down on the couch and she just let him breathe.

"I wanna know," Ally said, "I've always wondered what happened when I left, please tell me."

"I'm not sure you want to know," Austin sighed.

"I do, I really really do."

"Okay," Austin took a few breaths and set the stage.

xxx

_*Beep*Beep*_

Austin slammed his hand on the snooze button on his alarm clock which knocked a few papers off of his nightstand, he took no notice and turned back, expecting his arm to wrap around the girl whom he had confessed his love and had the feeling returned just last night. Instead, he was met by a crinkling of paper.

"Ally?" Austin ran his hand up and down the bed, searching in vain for the girl of his dreams. "Ally! Ally!" He threw the blanket off himself and looked around, ran into the kitchen, looked in the bathroom, then returned to the bedroom and sat down on the opposite side of the bed. Finally, he noticed the paper that he had touched earlier, there was a perfect kiss shape and the shadow of the writing on the other side. Slowly, he picked it up and traced the lipstick, then unfolded it and read under his breath, letting a salty tear fall from his eye and to his lips.

_"Perhaps we'll meet again on some street corner in some other city one day. Love... love... love, Ally,"_ He re-read the note, over and over, then laid back on his bed and held it tight, tears rolling down his face and staining his cheeks.

Austin stood up and slipped on a couple of papers on the floor of his room, he stooped down and picked up the ticket, letting it sink in that Ally wanted him to go. He really wasn't sure why she had left, but he knew how much he loved her, and that he didn't want to leave her behind. Finally, he stood and folded the note back to how it was and walked to his bookcase, and started putting them in the same box that they had been in. Dumping them in and rushing to be ready to leave at 5 o'clock this afternoon. Austin stopped when he came across the book that had brought him to the realization of his feelings for this girl and decided that that was where he wanted to keep this note, in her honor. He placed it on one of his favorite pages, almost as a bookmark, and threw it in the box.

At 4:00, Trent had come home and helped Austin finish packing, he was ready and dropped off most of the boxes at the postal service, then made Trent promise to mail the rest soon. He had called his record company earlier, confirming that he would be going to L.A., and was climbing back into Trent's car and taking out his phone again, checking to see if Ally had called him.

"Just call her, man. Tell her that you're going," Trent said, watching this ritual for the fifth time in just the past few hours.

"No, she knows, she's the one who told me to go. Let's just get to the airport," Austin finally mumbled, putting his phone in his pocket and breathing deeply.

Austin looked out the window of the plane bound for Los Angeles, wondering - no hoping - that Ally was watching for his plane from her window. He leaned his head back on the seat and closed his eyes, just to be opened a few seconds later by a girl plopping down next to him.

"Hi, I'm Cassidy."

"I'm Austin."

xxx

"Cassidy?" Ally asked, scanning Austin for any reaction to his story. "You met Cassidy, because of me? Because I told you to go."

"Uh huh, and now she's my girlfriend and I really care about her," Austin said, in all seriousness, locking eyes with Ally.

"Oh- okay...," Ally started, but she couldn't find the right words to continue so just let the silence speak for itself.

"But not as much as I care about you," Austin whispered. Ally heard and slipped her hand under his chin, leaning his head toward hers and feeling very awkward. Austin took control, turning himself and putting his hand on her cheek, closing their lips and melting into their kiss. That is, until they heard the door open.

"Austin, you forgot to give me back my phone when you borrowed it-" Cassidy squeaked and lost every word from her lips and every thought from her mind.

**Do I even need to say it? Well I will, OOO drama! Anyways... Couples & Careers 3 It's such a good episode! **

**Also, I'd love to hear you favorite parts of the chapter and OF COURSE any suggestions you have, constructive criticism is also appreciated.**


	13. Chapter XII

**Firstly, thank you all for the amazing reviews, it's great. Secondly, I have another fanfic in the works which I'll hopefully get to writing soon. Thirdly, this is a formal thank you to a guest, Izzy, whose ideas for this story have inspired a ton of the rest of what will happen. **

**So, Izzy, while I won't use all of your ideas, thank you so much. You definitely stopped my writer's block and inspired my plan for the rest of the story. I'm sure it's going to be even more amazing than it was going to be. So, thank you.**

**Anyway, no more talking, enjoy!**

**(and review!)**

_"But not as much as I care about you," Austin whispered. Ally heard and slipped her hand under his chin, leaning his head toward hers and feeling very awkward. Austin took control, turning himself and putting his hand on her cheek, closing their lips and melting into their kiss. That is, until they heard the door open._

_"Austin, you forgot to give me back my phone when you borrowed it-" Cassidy squeaked and lost every word from her lips and every thought from her mind._

xxx

"Cassidy!" Austin yelled, pushing away from Ally and standing to face his girlfriend... well... he hoped that she was still his girlfriend. Or did he? Austin rushed around the couch jumping over the side of the couch and running to get his girlfriend who had turned and ran out of the apartment. Ally stood quickly, letting tears start and just stared, frozen where she was out of shock and guilt.

"What the hell, Austin!?" Cassidy shouted, turning around and facing him. He could see that she wanted to cry, but didn't. He felt awful seeing her like that because of him, because he truly did love her.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry it was all... and...," Austin stumbled, trying to find the right words.

"I'm sorry, did I interrupt your nostalgic moment? I'm sorry, it's my fault. Go ahead and continue. I mean, what would have happened if I didn't walk in just now? Make out? More? Would you have had sex with her? You know, I'm really getting the vibe that there was a _lot_ more to you two than just 'friends'," Cassidy berated him, shouting and waving her hands frantically, trying to convey what she was feeling.

"No! Well, yes. You're right, ok? We weren't 'just friends'. I'm sorry for not telling you! I guess I thought it wouldn't be a problem!"

"Well that was a damn wrong guess. I mean, you're my boyfriend! What the hell is wrong with you?" Cassidy let the tears subside, her heart was filling with fury and hurt. If Ally hadn't run out of the apartment at that moment, Austin would have been on the floor. Cassidy balled up her fist and swung at him, barely missing his face when Ally pushed him aside.

"Cassidy! Please let me explain!" Ally yelled, desperately trying to get her to listen. "Can we please, please just tell you the story?"

"Sure, what the hell, all I want to do on my Saturday night is listen to my boyfriend and my 'thought-to-be' friend tell me all about their fabulous romance! What the f-"

"Please. It'll explain a lot," Austin interrupted.

"Fine," Cassidy made her way past the two of them, smashing shoulders with both, and walked back into the apartment. She sat down on the couch and picked up her phone from the coffee table, remembering that that was what she had come here for. Austin and Ally joined her, sitting as far away from each other as they could manage. "Spill," Cassidy deadpanned, glaring at Austin with stone-cold eyes.

xxx

"And that's why you saw what you saw...," Austin finished, desperately searching his girlfriend for any sign of forgiveness. He saw none.

"You know I never say this, but what the fuck* austin? You think that telling me this story, both of you, will somehow make what I saw excusable? Well that's fantastic, you know what, we're over Austin. And for you," Cassidy stood up and motioned toward Ally, whose head was down and refused to make eye contact, "I really thought we could be friends, I guess not." Cassidy left, slamming the door, and made her way upstairs to her apartment. Slamming her bedroom door in Kira's face as she tried to get her to talk about what happened. She answered simply with, "We broke up"

"Austin, I'm so, so sorry. I really didn't mean to do this. I've gotta go," Ally quickly collected her things and made a beeline for the door. Austin let her leave, then collapsed onto the couch and let the weight of the world crush him until he fell asleep.

xxx

"Hi," Ally said, closing her apartment door a few days later.

"Huh," Cassidy replied, quickly locking the door and rushing towards the stairs. Ally caught up and attempted to make some kind of conversation.

"Cassidy, I'm sorry. I get that you're not talking to me right now but please, I'm really sorry. I didn't... I mean... it was a really big mistake. Please forgive me."

"Shut up, Ally," Cassidy replied, quickening her pace and slamming the stairwell door in Ally's face.

"Yeah, I deserved that," Ally mumbled, meandering down the stairs.

xxx

"Ally," Cassidy said as they both reached their apartment doors.

"I'm sorry, but I really can't change the time that I arrive home," Ally replied, opening her door.

"No, Ally wait. Can we uh, just talk?"

"Um, sure," Ally replied warily.

"Wanna come in?" Cassidy asked, gesturing toward her apartment door. Ally abandoned her own apartment and shut the door, slowly entering Cassidy's apartment. She made her way to a chair across from the couch and sat down uncomfortably. "I'm sorry, Ally."

"No, Cassidy. It's all my fault, I did it, I kissed Austin and I'm really really sorry," Ally said.

"Yeah, well... you're right. But, I wanna tell you something. You know, just listening to the whole story, I know I was so angry and judgmental, but I got to thinking about it over the last few days and I just have to tell you that, um, you aren't all bad. You guys ought to be together, especially since I'm not going to be in L.A. much longer." Cassidy took a deep breath, finishing her sentence. Ally just stared at her, flabbergasted by what Cassidy had just admitted.

"Wait, what do you mean you won't be here much longer?"

"I, uh, got an offer in Nashville. I was going to talk about it with Austin, y'know, because I didn't know if we would want to do the whole long distance thing, and I would have stayed here if he wanted me to, but...," Cassidy paused pensively, then stopped.

"Wow," Ally sighed, "you're really gonna go?"

"Uh huh," Cassidy replied. "I'm gonna tell Austin in a few days, 'cause I just want to get it over with and leave. So, please don't tell him. And in the meantime, I, um, forgive you, and if you want to date Austin, y'know, you can..."

"Thanks...," Ally smiled, "hug it out?"

"Sure," Cassidy laughed, then stood up to embrace her friend. "See ya, then?"

"Yeah, see ya," Ally replied. She left Cassidy's and made her way back to her apartment. When she finally got back and sat down on her bed, she felt the weight of the world come off her shoulders and her heart felt amazing. She could finally have Austin and without screwing up one of the few friendships she has managed to make.

xxx

"Bye, Cassidy," Austin leaned in to hug her, she backed away and held out her hand with a sheepish smile.

"Thanks for, um, everything," Cassidy replied as they shook hands. "Bye, Ally, Kira," Cassidy said, embracing both of them then slowly backing away. She waved again and joined Elliot and Ethan wrapped their arms around her and they all made their way out of the apartment. Leaving the three others behind.

"Come on, Austin," Ally said, grabbing his hand and leading him toward her apartment, "I have you something."

Ally left Austin in her living room and went to her room and returned with a note. It was folded perfectly with an ethereal little kiss on the front, with Austin's name written in her handwriting. Austin slowly unfolded it and read aloud:

_Dear Austin,_

_I guess this is our street corner._

_Love, Ally._

Austin smiled and lifted her chin gently, grazing his lips on hers. She responded the same and the two of them stayed interlocked for what seemed like hours.

**I don't know if I can say "OOO Drama" but still...**

**Anyways, this story is winding down and might be ending very soon unless I have some fabulous storm of inspiration. **

**However, I will be starting a new one soon and we can all be excited for that, right!**

**Constructive criticism, reviews, advice, what you liked or disliked, ideas for more chapters, I love them all!**


	14. Chapter XIII (The End)

**All righty, ****_THIS IS IT this is the final chapter! _****But it's okay because I'm starting to write a new story (not a sequel) which I will post after this one finishes.**

**Thanks again to Izzy, who had some amazing ideas, but I'm just not as invested in this story as I was so I don't want to wrap myself up in a whole new storyline! I'm really sorry, but your ideas truly were awesome and they definitely deserve an "OOO drama!". (Which I guess has become something of a trademark for this story/me).**

**So, with that said, enjoy the conclusion of: ****_The Right Place at the Right Time._**

_Three Years Later_

"Dez, this has to be perfect," Austin said, running his hand through his hair in exasperation.

"Can't you just, y'know, do it in a restaurant or something like that? Like most guys do? Put it in her drink, hide it in the bread, just get down on your knee before dinner and do it," Dez replied quickly, chewing on something that was so deep-fried it was unidentifiable.

"Well, yeah, that's what I always planned to do when I got engaged, but she's not most girls so why the _hell _should I do what 'most guys do'?"

"Dude, calm down," Dez laughed and then, seeing Austin's glare harden, quickly returned to his chewing.

"This has to be perfect, and I don't know how to do it! Why is this so difficult?" Austin yelled into his hands which he had slammed onto his face in frustration and muffled his tired and irritated moans.

"Then...," Dez looked up and caught Austin's gaze, and Austin knew he was in for one of Dez's more lucid, good-advice-giving moments. "Retrace your steps." Austin sighed at this and fell back against the bed which he and Ally shared, letting Dez's advice sink in and searching for anything useful in his friend's somehow cryptic statement, which made always made him feel like an imbecile. After a moment's reflexion, Austin suddenly sat up and grabbed for a pen and pad. He started writing quickly and furiously. "Dude, you okay?" Dez finally asked after finishing his deep-fried... something.

"Dez, you're a frigging genius," Austin finally replied, handing over the paper.

"What, this is just a list of things that you've done with Ally," Dez said, studying the paper for some kind of deeper meaning.

"Exactly, things that I've done with Ally, for Ally, and if I could bring everything together at the same time, well that would be perfect!" Austin let a very unmanly screech escape with all his excitement, but there was only one problem. Where?

I guess this would be a good time to explain what has happened in the few years since we've last seen Austin and Ally. First off, they've been dating since they kissed in Austin's apartment three years ago. Second, they told each other that they loved each other about three months in and neither of them has regretted it for a single moment since. Finally, Austin is planning to propose to Ally. She has no idea.

xxx

Austin lay awake next to Ally, watching her breathing and tracing a finger up and down her arm, drawing patterns on her skin. She was sound asleep, completely clueless of what was to come, but so was Austin. He had scoured his brain for the past two days to find the perfect location for what might be the most important thing he ever does. He finally stood up and started walking around the room, using the moonlight coming through the window as a light. He made his way into the living room of the L.A. apartment they now shared and switched on the TV, flipping through the channels and hoping to find something good. He passed Disney Channel and laughed at a show about a dog and a flea called "Butch & Bitey", who would ever buy that whole "opposites attract and form the perfect partnership" thing. But, looking toward the door to their bedroom, he decided that sometimes opposites do attract.

Finding nothing good on TV, Austin turned it off and walked over to the kitchen, took out a bag of popcorn and put it into the microwave, then walked back into the living room and started looking around for something to do. He kicked a sneaker around a little and found himself near the bookshelf. He let his finger glide along the spines and, (obviously... at this point everyone reading should know what book he found, if you don't then... I don't even know what to say to you right now) slowly pulled out one of his most cherished books. He flipped the pages quickly and ran his finger along the cover. Austin flipped the book over a few times and then turned to a random page and began to read. Finding himself rereading the same sentence over and over, he found the source of his hesitance in a single word, "beach". Austin sat down on the couch and smiled to himself, content that his plan for the perfect proposal was now moving forward, and all he had to do was find a way to get to Miami, Florida without Ally suspecting anything. (Which wasn't easy considering they lived all the way across the country.)

xxx

"Good morning, babe," Austin said, smiling, as Ally woke to Austin staring at her.

"Morning," Ally said. She sat up and swung her legs over the side, sighing.

"I was thinking," Austin began, walking around the bed and sitting next to his girlfriend.

"What?" Ally intertwined her fingers with his and turned to face Austin.

"We should go on vacation, y'know? This weekend, it's a three day weekend and it'll be fun. What do you think?" Austin smiled at his rushed sentence, hoping to be nonchalant over his request.

"Sure," Ally replied, grinning. "But I have to tell work. You do, too. And where would we go?"

"Um...," Austin started, he had rehearsed how to say this at least twenty times last night, and let his cool air carry his excuse and was satisfied with the delivery. "Why don't we go visit your parents?"

"Really?" Ally looked at him, startled, then started to laugh, "Okay, let's go. This weekend." Austin sighed, gratefully, and Ally moved to the dresser to get ready for the day. "Get dressed, Austin. We have to get to Starr Records." She tossed him one of her favorite shirts of his and he grabbed some pants, then walked towards the bathroom to shower. Ally followed suit in a few minutes once Austin was out of the shower and getting dressed.

Once Ally was out of the shower and they were both dressed, they ate breakfast and headed out towards Starr Records. Once they arrived, Austin waved at the receptionist and led Ally up to Jimmy Starr's office for their weekly meeting. During the ride over, they decided that they were going to tell Jimmy that they were going to go away for the three-day weekend so they wouldn't be able to come into work. Walking into Jimmy's office, Austin and Ally took their seats and they started the meeting discussing Austin's career. Before it ended, Austin said:

"Hey, Jimmy. We're not gonna be in L.A. this weekend, we're going to Miami to see Ally's parents."

"Okay, have fun," replied Jimmy, smiling and, once Ally's back was turned, winking at Austin. Austin returned his gesture with a smile and a nod, putting his hand around Ally's waist and walking out of his office.

Austin sat behind the wheel of his truck and turned toward Ally, "Wanna go back home and pack? Maybe we can get an early flight and leave tonight."

"Sure, I can check right now," Ally said, taking out her phone. "There's a flight at noon, you sure you want to go that soon?"

"Yeah," Austin smiled at her, studying everything from her wavy ombré curls down her perfect body to her pink toes in the wedges she was wearing.

"Are you okay?" Ally waved her hand in front of Austin's face, "the light's green."

"Oh, sorry," Austin laughed at himself and pressed his foot onto the gas pedal, easing forward through the intersection. He smiled the whole ride home, much to Ally's confusion, but he didn't care.

When the two of them arrived back at their apartment, they packed up some bags and asked Kira to drive them to the airport. They were through security and to the gate in record time and celebrated with a kiss when they sat down with 20 minutes until the boarding time. That is, until a familiar voice called out behind them.

"Ally? Ally!"

"Oh my god, Austin," Ally said, leaning in and clutching Austin's hand. Austin turned to face him, but turned around at what he saw and quickly whispered in her ear.

"He's not alone."

"What?" Ally whipped her head around and, before being able to turn back around, caught the eye of none other than her ex-boyfriend. "Dallas!"

"Cassidy," Austin faked a smile, and let the two approach them. Slowly, the two of them noticed their body language.

"What's goin' on here...," Ally inquired, stepping towards the couple but not letting go of Austin's hand.

"We're dating," Cassidy started, then turned towards Dallas. "You know her?"

"Yeah," Dallas said, looking towards Ally, "We kinda... dated. But how do you know him?"

"We, uh, kind of dated," Cassidy replied, hesitantly. The couple stood staring at each other, then at the couple standing in front of them.

"So...," Austin started, desperate for some kind of filler.

"You know what," Cassidy said, eyeing Austin curiously. "I don't want to know."

"Me neither," Ally commented.

"I do," Austin said, looking to Dallas for some kind of answer, but getting it from Cassidy.

"Well, Austin, after I left L.A. I spent a few weeks in New York and met this amazing guy." She looked at his face and Austin noticed her gestures and body language, they were in love. "We started dating right when we met. About two and a half years ago."

"Wow," Ally replied, stunned into near speechlessness.

"Well, we've got to catch our plane back to New York." Cassidy said, leading Dallas away from the Austin and Ally, neither pair looking back on their pasts.

"So," Austin said putting his hand on Ally's and looking out the window next to her once on board the plane, "you excited?"

"Yeah," Ally said, chuckling a little. "Are you?"

"Well, I mean," Austin blushed and cursed himself in his mind. "I just want to make a good impression on your parents."

"That's really sweet, but they've met you before, Austin." Ally laughed at him and he returned it good-heartedly.

"Well, I'm excited nonetheless." Austin wrapped his arm around Ally, kissing her hair and she leaned into him, watching L.A. become a minuscule dot on the earth below, replaced by clouds.

"Ally, wake up," Austin whispered as the captain finished his final announcement.

"Huh? Did I fall asleep?" Ally's voice was a little hoarse with sleep as she removed her head from his shoulder.

"Yeah," Austin whispered, "the whole flight."

"Sorry," Ally said, yawning. She smiled and Austin kissed her gently on the lips.

"I love you," Austin whispered.

"Well that's good 'cause I love you, too," Ally said, smiling, brushing the mess of hair that had resulted from her nap with her fingers.

The plane landed and Austin and Ally grabbed their bags and walked through the airport. Ally had called her dad this morning to pick them up, so they weren't surprised to see him when they got to Baggage Claim.

"Ally!" Her dad gave her a bear hug and took her bags. Then he walked over to Austin and embraced him the same, denying Austin's handshake. "Austin, you've been dating my daughter for three years, we're practically family," Ally's dad said, after finally releasing him. Austin grinned at her dad's acceptance and suddenly couldn't wait to talk to him about what he planned to do this weekend.

xxx

When they arrived back at the house, Lester's girlfriend greeted them both and they all went into the living room.

"Penny's coming over for dinner," Lester said to his girlfriend as they settled on the couch.

"Mom's coming? Great," Ally exclaimed, happy at the thought of her little family being together again. Not that it didn't happen often, her parent's divorce had been very amicable and they always spent holidays together despite them both having new relationships.

"Yeah," Lester said, "at seven."

"Why don't I start cooking?" Annabelle, (Lester's girlfriend) asked. Gesturing towards Ally to have her come and help. Ally was on good terms with both of her parent's relationships and especially liked Annabelle. Happily agreeing, Ally stood up and went into the kitchen.

"So, what do you want to talk to me about?" Lester straightened against the couch and turned towards Austin.

"Huh?" Austin was shocked at his intuition, but began anyway. "Do you, uh, mind if we talk somewhere a little more private than this?" Austin asked, nodding towards the girls laughing in the kitchen.

"Of course," Lester said, getting up and walking towards the front door. "We can talk on the porch if that's private enough for you."

"Yes, of course," Austin said, joining Lester on the porch and settling onto the swinging bench while Lester sat on a sturdy rocking chair.

"So, what did you want to talk about, Son?"

"Well," Austin began, "I've been dating your daughter for three years now and I really really love her," Lester smiled a knowing smile, but let him finish, "and I was really hoping for your blessing to ask for her hand... y'know... I mean... oh gosh, I-"  
"Yes," Lester interrupted, smiling at the stumbling man in front of him, swinging like a little boy and blabbering like a baby that just learned to talk.

"What?"

"Yes, Austin, I give you my blessing. You two are great together, exactly the guy I wanted my little girl to marry. But know one thing, if you ever hurt her, I will find you and beat you so hard you won't remember how to sing a C." Austin winced, but smiled at Lester's attempt to make his comment light-hearted. Then it hit him, he was about to propose to Ally. He thanked Lester profusely and made an excuse to take a walk. Dialing Dez, he made a check list of everything he needed to do tomorrow night to make it perfect.

"Ahoy!" Dez's voice came across the other line.

"He said yes!" He heard Dez laughing and rethought his last statement, then continued, "He gave me his blessing, I'm gonna do it tomorrow night!"

"That's great!" Dez yelled into the phone, so you're going with the beach thing?"

"Yeah, that's good, right? Right? Oh my god, I'm freaking out!"

"Calm down, bro, it's awesome. Ally's going to be so shocked."

"Thanks, buddy. I know she will."

xxx

"Austin, where are we going?" Ally laughed and played with the sleeping mask that was her blind fold.

"Don't touch," Austin said, covering her face with his left and hand hearing her laugh, which made his heart skip a beat.

"Fine, I just wish you would tell me where we're going."

"Somewhere."

"Ha. Ha," Ally replied, sarcastically.

"Well, here we are," Austin said, getting out of the car and walking around to her door.

"Where? I'm still wearing the blindfold. Can I take it off?"

"Nope, there's still a little walking to do. Come on." They walked down the boardwalk and onto the beach. "You can take your shoes off here." Austin and Ally kicked off their shoes and walked down the beach, Austin guiding Ally as she stumbled over some shells.

"Ouch! Austin, watch where I'm going," Ally said, then he stopped and turned towards her.

"Stay put for two seconds," ran away and Ally heard him grunting to himself, she laughed and after a few moments he returned. "Okay, take it off." Ally removed the blindfold and found herself on the beach, and, after a few seconds to register, realized it was the same beach and the same spot where they first... met.

"Oh my god, Austin, this is amazing, what... what is all this," Ally said, looking around. It was exactly the same, the beach, the waves, he even got the same looking towel from the night they met, but this time it was surrounded by unlit candles and a radio.

"I figured, this is where it all started so... this is where it should happen."

"What the... what are you talking about Austin?"

"Ally, I love you. I've loved you since the first time we saw each other up on that deck... literally that deck," he laughed and nodded towards the house a couple dozen yards away from the beach where they stood. "Ally, let me make this really simple, there's no way I could make it without you, and I don't want to try. So...," Austin took this moment to reach into his jacket and bend down on one knee, looking up at Ally and letting her radiance reflect onto him, "Will you marry me?"

"Oh my god, Austin. Yes! Of course I will! I love you, too! And just FYI, there's no way I could make it without you, either."

"Ally Dawson, I love you so damn much!" He picked her up and spun her around, racing into the waves and letting them crash over their legs, smashing them together over and over, encouraging their happiness.

With that, the events from a night nearly ten years ago repeated themselves, but with no guilt, just love and happiness. While Austin played one of his favorite songs that she had written, "I Think About You".

"You know, all those years ago I told Trish that I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time that night. I've never been so happy to be wrong."

**And that concludes my story! :'( But I'm going to start working on another soon, so, stay with me! **

**Thanks to everyone for reviewing, It's been amazing. I can't wait to write more! **

**And finally, just because it's the last time I'll be able to say it for this story, "OOO Drama!" **

**I love you guys, and thank you!**

**~Lauren**


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